NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The hometown kid struck it rich, just not in his hometown.
All-star relief pitcher Mark Melancon, the pride of Golden High School, signed a four-year contract with the San Francisco Giants Monday for the princely sum of $62 million, a deal the Rockies could not match.
Melancon’s contract set a record for most lucrative contract ever signed by a closer, surpassing Jonathan Papelbon’s four-year, $50 million deal with Philadelphia in 2011. That record, however, likely will be shattered soon. Fellow free-agent closers Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen are hunting for fat, new contracts.