Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Make The Bad Thoughts Go Away...

...or just kill me.

(Looks like I have a topic for Thursday.)

13 comments:

Ryan said...

At the hefty price tag he is expected to receive, one thinks Nathan might not be fairing so well in recovery from TJ?

SethSpeaks said...

Was there really any question about it? After giving up Wilson Ramos to get him, they weren't going to non-tender Capps. all along the hope was that instead of giving him $8 million-plus in 2010, maybe they could trade him.

John said...

No Seth, the best hope was what (I think?) you proposed in your blueprint - that they use the non-tender option as a means to sign him to a more affordable long-term deal. And while that was the best hope, it still wasn't the best option.

I'm so angry about this, I"m ready to blow a gasket. This is just unforgivable.

DrJubal said...

Shouldn't all our highest players be relief pitchers?

Adam Krueger said...

I agree John, it's a terrible use limited money. Take today as an example, Benoit signs for 3yrs/$16M and the Twins are going to pay Capps $8M for 1-year??

I think this is Bill Smith realizing he made a bad deal and trying to cover his butt by keeping Capps. Or, even worse, he doesn't realize he made a bad deal and thinks Capps is worth $8M...

Anonymous said...

He's not getting 8M. Soriano only got 7M last year after being offered arb by the Braves as a free agent. Since he's not a free agent he should make less than that. He should get 5-6M, which is better than Benoit at 3/16M.

Anonymous said...

I'm so angry about this, I"m ready to blow a gasket. This is just unforgivable.

Perhaps you're overreacting just a bit.

SoCalTwinsfan said...

I don't know why you would expect anything different. They all but announced this after the trade. The reason they were willing to give up Ramos was because they had him under control for 2011. They wouldn't have done the trade otherwise and Capps didn't do anything to change their mind. How smart a decision this is is a different argument, but the time to be upset about this has long passed.

TT said...

SoCalTwinsfan is right. There was never any question about the Twins offering Capps arbitration. They wouldn't have made the deal for him if they weren't.

The difference between $16 million and $8 million is $8 million. Benoit is not a cloase and he will be 36 years old the last year of that contract. Its also not at all clear Capps will even get that big a raise.

USAFChief said...

Let's see...Nathan is coming off TJ surgery, four of the top five 2010 relievers are unsigned for 2011, and the Twins blogging community is up-in-arms over bringing back the one reasonably sure thing they have for 2011. Unbelievable. Capps will be in important part of the Twins bullpen next year. Overpaid a bit, but so what? His cost isn't going to keep the Twins from doing anything else they were likely to do anyway.

JfW said...

Overpaid a bit, but so what? His cost isn't going to keep the Twins from doing anything else they were likely to do anyway.

There is no logic behind such a deduction. Your statement is simply counterintuative.

Adam Krueger said...

I gotta say, I'm a bit disappointed with the logic going on here. First of all, the Benoit deal is better because:
a) they have him for 3 years and
b) he's a better pitcher

If you let Capps go, you have an extra (to be charitable) $6-$8M dollars which could buy you a reliever or two of a similar caliber. Capps is not that great, he never has been dominant and the Twins outta dump him simply BECAUSE he is overpaid and they could get a couple of similar relievers for what it will cost to re-sign him. This is simple math people.

Unknown said...

In defense of Capps . .

Yes he's not Joe Nathan. He's not Rivera . . . we can agree on that. So let's say he's just a very good setup man. Let's use Guerrier as a comparable. Capps pitching as he has would have been a very good setup man over his career at the very least, right? Guerrier made 3.15 million in his final arb year, I think it's safe to assume that Capps makes at least that, I'm going to say a bit more because of his age and some slightly better stats overall. So let's say Capps as a setup man with no Saves makes 3.5 million this year. So at most the Twins are wasting 4.5 million and that's if he gets 8 million. I personally think it will be more like 6 million. Both Capps and Guerrier had a bad first year of arbitration which kept their prices down but were very good in every other season.

I also take into account that Capps is just entering his prime years and has a very real chance to improve. He just had his first taste of the AL and more than held his own. Maybe over the course of the off season he can work on what he learned from having to face the better hitting that is in the AL.

Sorry this is getting so long, but my last point is why wouldn't the Twins offer him arb and then trade him? Does the arbitration system value saves that much more than major league teams? If so, then they need to adjust their thinking. I realize the Twins probably would not get back a Ramos level talent but they ought to get something.

So I can agree with you that the trade was probably not smart, Ramos would look great in our minor league system right now as trade bait, however offering arb to Capps is not the travesty you make in out to be. . . at least not in my opinion.