SAN FRANCISCO -- On the first day of the annual Winter Meetings two years ago, the Giants signed Mark Melancon to what was then the largest contract ever given to a relief pitcher. A few hours after word of the deal leaked, a team official laughed as he saw a reporter getting coffee.
"You might as well go home," he said. "We're done for the week."
The Giants have in recent years worked on a narrow path. Bruce Bochy needed more innings from his rotation, so Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija were targeted. The bullpen blew up and knocked the team out of the postseason, so Melancon was the choice from the first hours of that offseason.