Braves Officially Make Mark Melancon Their New Closer

The Atlanta Braves made a couple of deadline deals last week to strengthen the back end of its struggling bullpen.

But, less than two weeks after the deadline, Atlanta is already forced to re-shuffle the pieces in its 'pen.

On Friday, Braves manager Brian Snitker announced Mark Melancon will be the team's closer for "at least a while."

Melancon was acquired from the San Francisco Giants to be a setup man for fellow deadline acquisition Shane Greene.

Greene, a 2019 All-Star, was having a great season for the Detroit Tigers, collecting 22 saves with a 1.18 ERA before the trade. However, Greene has struggled since arriving to Atlanta.

With the Giants, Melancon had a 3.50 ERA in 46.1 innings pitching mainly in middle relief. However, he has tossed 3.1 scoreless innings for the Braves and has a history of being one of the league's best closers on contending teams.

Melancon was on the mound to wrap up the Braves' 8-4 win against the Miami Marlins on Friday, while Greene came on to pitch in the eighth inning.

Atlanta will hope the moves that GM Alex Anthopoulos made actually solidifies its bullpen in the final two months of the season. No matter who is closing games, the team surely needs Greene to pitch like the guy he was in Detroit.