Matt Capps!

by Ramah71 on Dec 13, 2009 1:41 PM PST

Okay, the Pirates just non-tendered their best pitcher, Matt Capps, because they didn't feel like paying him his arbitration reward. What losers. Of course, I am aware that our very own Giants don't exactly have the brightest front office either, but Brian Sabean's strength is evaluating pitching talent (see Lincecum, T, Cain, M, Affeldt, J...) and he could turn Matt Capps into this year's Jeremy Affeldt. Signing Capps helps fill the hole left by the departures of Justin Miller and Bob Howry, and it adds yet another potential All-Star candidate to the mix. That's right, All-Star. True, he had a forgettable year (5.80 ERA, 27 saves, 54.1 innings pitched), but that was attributed partly to the Pirates' non-existent run support, made even worse by the departures of Adam LaRoche and Freddy Sanchez, their two best hitters, which meant that the Pirates' pitchers were pressured into pitching perfect games every appearance, since they weren't sure if the offense would ever produce that game. This situation was even worse than the Giants: Pittsburgh was dead last in the Majors in run production, 28th in RBIs and OBP, and last in OPS. Keep in mind also that in 2008, Capps had a 3.02 ERA, 21 saves, an astoundingly low 0.97 WHIP, and only 5 walks in 53.2 innings pitched. The year before that, Capps posted a 2.28 ERA (!), 18 saves, a WHIP of 1.01, a career high 64 strikeouts, and allowed a batting average of .220 in 79 innings of excellence. Why shouldn't you sign him?

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Capps would be a pretty awesome set-up man. But me thinks he’ll be able to get paid on the open market now….

by Hobbes2d on Dec 13, 2009 1:44 PM PST reply actions

After his 2009? He won’t command Lyon money. I’m hoping for an Affeldt-esque gem from Sabean. It’s about time.

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by Ramah71 on Dec 13, 2009 1:49 PM PST up reply actions

Affeldt makes 4 million per year. The Giants’ bullpen is already pretty good. They should be spending their cash on offense, not Matt CAPPS.

No Edgar, it's not your fault, it's the fault of the idiot that plays you

by rxmeister on Dec 13, 2009 3:59 PM PST up reply actions

There is a glut of pitchers with closer experience

Houston paid Brandon Lyon $15M over three years. Hilarious. But patience could bring a back of the bullpen type. Washington has yet to select their closer, so the Giants may not be able to get Capps as cheaply as they want, but there should be something there before all the nuggets are gone.

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by 3Com Park on Dec 13, 2009 1:47 PM PST reply actions

Sure!

And Pittsburgh has some good talent I’d be stoked on. They’re not that bad off.

Matt Cain: throwing complete game shutouts since 06'. No big deal.

by cain1rstballothof on Dec 13, 2009 1:48 PM PST reply actions

Andrew McCutchen, Akinori Iwamura, Lastings Milledge… yeah.

by Ramah71 on Dec 13, 2009 1:51 PM PST up reply actions

Alvarez dog.

Matt Cain: throwing complete game shutouts since 06'. No big deal.

by cain1rstballothof on Dec 13, 2009 1:54 PM PST up reply actions

Jason Bay

Adam LaRoche, Freddy Sanchez, Zach Duke

by Ramah71 on Dec 13, 2009 1:57 PM PST up reply actions

…Xavier Nady, Ian Snell…

by Ramah71 on Dec 13, 2009 1:57 PM PST up reply actions

….Tim Alderson

Thing A

by sam23 on Dec 13, 2009 3:11 PM PST up reply actions

-1

I have finally accepted the fact that I will never win a McCoven award.

by The Thrill on Dec 13, 2009 7:12 PM PST up reply actions

/banned

Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti. "I treat Timmy differently from most pitchers: I leave him alone."

"I sometimes still can get insider info and I am not a dumb or average fan.
Molina is needed."

by natteringnabob on Dec 13, 2009 11:01 PM PST up reply actions

..Barry Bonds, Jason Schmidt

Hey Fred Lewis, remember Mother's Day?

by anotherbadexcuseguitar on Dec 14, 2009 11:50 AM PST up reply actions

i guess

but other teams with a desperate need for pitching will overpay for him, and we don’t need him all that much

by sfoakbay on Dec 13, 2009 1:51 PM PST reply actions

On the contrary

I’m not sure he’ll be that sought after, especially after he posts a 5.80 ERA

by Ramah71 on Dec 13, 2009 1:52 PM PST up reply actions

Which is why i’m positive he’ll be a steal for us. 2 years $8 million.

by Ramah71 on Dec 13, 2009 1:53 PM PST up reply actions

That’s kind of a lot for a reliever, especially considering we already have an excellent bullpen. Wouldn’t we be better off saving the money for next year’s FA class?

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by boonitez on Dec 13, 2009 5:35 PM PST up reply actions

Didn't

we pay affeldt that kind of money?
I would go for him, we need a right handed reliever after Miller time and Clutch howry, as others have said.

If we can’t get him, then oh well!

Hey Fred Lewis, remember Mother's Day?

by anotherbadexcuseguitar on Dec 13, 2009 11:04 PM PST up reply actions

Spending a lot of money on your bullpen is an easy way to not win many games. One $4M bullpen guy is enough. Especially since Sabean actually does do a decent job of piling up young arms that can fill those innings (Runzler, Wilson, Romo, Joaquin….

Bullpen pitchers just don’t pitch enough innings to make that much of an impact, especially if those innings are low leverage innings (and we already have plenty of guys to take all the high leveraged situations so that’s all that’s really left). Our offense needs the money a lot more than our bullpen…

by Missing Barry on Dec 14, 2009 7:05 AM PST up reply actions

Yeah, i really wouldn’t want to spend any money on the bullpen, it’s fine at the moment and we should just try and pick up a few interesting arms on minor league deals.

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by GiantFan on Dec 14, 2009 7:48 AM PST up reply actions

Do you really think Brandon Lyon is worth 5 a year for 3 years? Because that’s what he got, and Matt Capps will get a nice (for him) contract, too.

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by cornball on Dec 13, 2009 2:00 PM PST up reply actions

He reminds me a good bit of Howry. Howry’s BB/9 bumped up last year but both are guys that have tended to be stingy with the walk while posting below-average K-rates.

Bay City Ball

by xanthan on Dec 13, 2009 2:00 PM PST reply actions

the Pirates just non-tendered their best pitcher, Matt Capps

Paul Maholm disagrees.

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It has me

by dregarx on Dec 13, 2009 2:04 PM PST reply actions

Best bullpen pitcher, then.

Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded.

by Ramah71 on Dec 13, 2009 2:17 PM PST up reply actions

Debatable, but I’ll give you that.

Lethargy
It has me

by dregarx on Dec 13, 2009 5:09 PM PST up reply actions

Best average pitcher, whaddabout dat??

Hey Fred Lewis, remember Mother's Day?

by anotherbadexcuseguitar on Dec 13, 2009 11:28 PM PST up reply actions

I don't think he's a good fit with the Giants

He’s an 8th-9th inning guy and the Giants are pretty much set with Romo, Affeldt & Wilson shutting the door.

by Gobroks on Dec 13, 2009 2:47 PM PST reply actions

Romo is more 7th inning, plus adding another excellent relief pitcher never hurts.

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by Ramah71 on Dec 13, 2009 3:07 PM PST up reply actions

That's true

but I’d like guys that can go 1+ innings and I’m not sure Capps can do that.

by Gobroks on Dec 13, 2009 4:28 PM PST up reply actions

Once we trade Wilson Romo should be our closer!

(That’s what would happen if I was running the team)

by Missing Barry on Dec 13, 2009 10:24 PM PST up reply actions

In that case I’m fine with you running the team

Thing A

by sam23 on Dec 13, 2009 11:29 PM PST up reply actions

Methinks we should hang on to this Wilson Romo character, he sounds intriguing

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by TexasRanger on Dec 14, 2009 11:00 AM PST up reply actions

WHY IS BOCOCK?!

by Lars The Wanderer on Dec 13, 2009 3:06 PM PST reply actions

His nickname is the Mad Capper.

"One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures." -George W. Bush

by Ramah71 on Dec 13, 2009 3:07 PM PST up reply actions

are you his agent?

No Edgar, it's not your fault, it's the fault of the idiot that plays you

by rxmeister on Dec 13, 2009 4:00 PM PST up reply actions

He will most likely get a contract as a closer ownt he?

Id rather the Giants just signed a good middle reliever, save money.

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by GrahamCrakalaka on Dec 13, 2009 5:18 PM PST reply actions

Brian Sabean’s strength is evaluating pitching talent (see Lincecum, T, Cain, M, Affeldt, J…)

Counterargument: Kurt Ainsworth, Jesse Foppert, Merkin Valdez, and Craig Whitaker. Trading for Sidney Ponson. Trading away/releasing Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano, David Aardsma, Scott Linebrink, and Kevin Correia. Hell, even Matt Palmer turned into a solid pitcher after he left the Giants

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by lincecuminyourface on Dec 13, 2009 6:07 PM PST reply actions

that’s more of an argument that evaluating pitching is difficult

by FluLikeSymptoms on Dec 13, 2009 6:56 PM PST up reply actions

3/4 of that list are pitchers who’ve delt with major injuries, and the rest are average at their very best.

by tyrannoman on Dec 13, 2009 8:32 PM PST up reply actions

Joe Nathan excepted. He’s a stud.

by tyrannoman on Dec 13, 2009 8:33 PM PST up reply actions

Damn you tyrannoman and flulikesymptoms for defending Sabean...

I wrote this mainly out of my disgust for Sabean. But there was some seriousness behind it. Predicting injuries is part of evaluating pitching talent, you need to check to see if their mechanics are sound. Sabean has traded away some good talent: Nathan is arguably the best closer over the past 5-6 years behind Rivera, Aardsma blossomed into a great closer this past year, for a few years Linebrink was an elite set-up man, and while Correia and Palmer are only “average,” every team wishes they could have their kind of production out of their 4th or 5th starter.

Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son

by lincecuminyourface on Dec 13, 2009 9:52 PM PST up reply actions

Aarsdma was also given up on by the Cubs and both colors of Sox before he blossomed. Boston gave up on him just one year before, so by that measure Epstein must be an even worse talent evaluator than Sabean.

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by EliminateMe on Dec 14, 2009 3:02 PM PST up reply actions

Sigh.

Mark Prior was said to have excellent mechanics, and from what I remember Ainsworth had very good mechanics as well. He had a series of bizarre injuries (including a broken scapula) and I’m not really sure anyone without a time machine or crystal ball can make those sort of calls. Rip Sabean all you want when he deserves it, but not this kind of stuff.

by tyrannoman on Dec 14, 2009 4:20 PM PST up reply actions

True, true

Figuring out pitchers is a crapshoot in many ways, and over the past few years Sabean has done more good than bad when it comes to pitching. I was merely pointing out that Sabean is far from a genius when it comes to pitching, but I was a little irrational and went overboard with my argument.

Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son

by lincecuminyourface on Dec 14, 2009 5:23 PM PST up reply actions

Hell, even Matt Palmer turned into a solid pitcher after he left the Giants.

Argument Fail.

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by say hey nation on Dec 14, 2009 6:37 AM PST up reply actions

You forgot Jerome Williams

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by RDreamer on Dec 14, 2009 1:28 PM PST up reply actions

Hmmm….doesn’t get GB’s, and doesn’t really strike people out. Nah, I’ll pass. I’m a sucker for the strikeout. :)

(He does have excellent control, but again, I’d rather take a shot on a guy with big K numbers improving his control than a control guy improving his K’s)

by Missing Barry on Dec 13, 2009 10:28 PM PST reply actions

You dont need Ks

You need control.

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by GrahamCrakalaka on Dec 13, 2009 10:52 PM PST up reply actions

You don’t need HR’s either, but they certainly help. :)

by Missing Barry on Dec 14, 2009 7:53 AM PST up reply actions

GROUPTHINK

the Ginats need run production, not home run production. Scout #4 said so!

Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti. "I treat Timmy differently from most pitchers: I leave him alone."

"I sometimes still can get insider info and I am not a dumb or average fan.
Molina is needed."

by natteringnabob on Dec 14, 2009 7:55 AM PST up reply actions

Giants are fine in terms of home runs. what they really need are road runs.

by fantastical on Dec 15, 2009 12:38 AM PST up reply actions

Well when your manager plays the game from the 5th inning on like he will get at least 1 HR from his line up on a squad that has troubles punching out of a wet paperr bag thoose kind of resaults are going to happen.

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Brain SabeanOranother.

by daveinexile on Dec 19, 2009 11:03 AM PST up reply actions

Still he seems pretty solid as relievers go

Hey Fred Lewis, remember Mother's Day?

by anotherbadexcuseguitar on Dec 13, 2009 11:05 PM PST up reply actions

I don’t object to that, I just think we have enough solid relievers already who strike guys out (giving them more upside).

by Missing Barry on Dec 14, 2009 7:54 AM PST up reply actions

being the best pitcher on an awful pitching staff isnt saying much, even if he actually was the best pitcher, for arguments sake.
i had capps on my fantasy team only because of saves. his era and whip were terrible. there wasnt a game last year where he didnt let two runners on in an inning or give up a run at least. it isnt as if he had this long track record of success and a single down year. youd be gambling millions for a guy with too many questions marks in an area that doesnt need that kind of money or risk. PASS

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by Headhunter Rollins on Dec 14, 2009 7:56 AM PST reply actions