Last year at this time, you probably had no idea who Mark Melancon was. Then he became a full-fledged closer, complete with the proper ID badges, Holiday Inn discounts, and hosannas that go along with the job. And a year later, he's back in the minor leagues. Relieving is a cruel, cruel line of work. From Nick Cafardo:
Melancon allowed five home runs in his two innings of work this year, which is more than Jonny Venters has allowed for his career. Melancon allowed 11 earned runs in his four appearances, which is three more than David Robertson allowed last year. I've got facts like this for days. Melancon has been historically awful in just two innings.
The Red Sox recalled Junichi Tazawa to replace Melancon, and the 26-year-old Tazawa has a career 3.12 ERA and 162/42 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 173 minor-league innings.
