Matt Capps
by cubssouvenirman on Dec 13, 2009 1:08 PM CST
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http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2009/12/cubs-show-interest-in-released-closer-matt-capps.html
66 saves over the past three years, but OMG look at those era numbers. Not acceptable for a stopper, but then again, he can't be any worse than "Gopher Ball" Gregg last year. BTW Capps was the Pittsburgh Pirate player who was hit on the elbow of his throwing arm with a line drive in early May last season . Fortunately, the injury was not career threatening.
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the main reason capps was awful this was because of an otherworldy .380 (!!!) BABIP this year
This Chicago Cubs team is currently Aaron free. Keep it that way, please.
If we start signing players
based on the comparison of "can’t be any worse than “Gopher Ball” Gregg" then we have some serious issues.
by gizmo6d9 on Dec 13, 2009 1:16 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
"Can't be any worse than Kevin Gregg"
How about extremely better than Gregg. Pitchers like Gregg and Heilman are what separated us from being eliminated in the middle of September and having a fighting chance until the final game of the season.
horrible years ...
from Soriano, Soto and Fontenot were JUST as responsible as our creeky bullpen. Not to mention a disappointing year by Bradley — though his on-field performance was far from horrible.
As for Capps … I’m kinda on the let’s-not-pay-too-much-for-relievers bandwagon. I’d hate to see us spend $3 million on Capps and limit what we could do with center, second base and the rotation.
by elgato on Dec 13, 2009 3:24 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
Agreed about the money
And about horrible years for players. But specifically with a bullpen, a really bad one will hurt you more than off-years by a couple players.
sure ...
but, without looking at the numbers, was the Cubs’ bullpen that bad last year? Gregg was actually pretty good for about three months, Marmol was good for much of the year, especially the final six weeks. Grabow was decent, etc.
I’m not saying bullpens shouldn’t be priorities. But I think the Cubs need to spend to improve an offense that was disappointing, a defense that was creaky AND that it might be easier to improve the bullpen by working with what’s already on the club.
Gregg and Heilman alone
Cost us at least 5 games. I’m not going to go back and look at specific games.
I never said a better bullpen would have won the division. I just think that a better bullpen would have kept us in the race a little longer. Soriano, Soto, etc would have helped our chances even more.
since the numbers do exist, let's take a peek:
the average bullpen WAR was 15. the Cubs racked up 18 WARs in 2009….so they were slightly above average as a whole. Gregg and Heilman combined for a stellar -0.1 WAR last year. so, if the existing pen has similar production and the team adds a couple of replacement-level guys (0 WAR), they are likely to get league average production out of the pen in 2010. three playoff teams (LAA, MIN, PHI) posted lower team bullpen WARs than the Cubs. the pen wasn’t the Cubs’ weakness last year, nor is it likely to be next year. the team should probably focus their limited resources to address more important things like getting a ML-caliber CF.
by Andronicus on Dec 13, 2009 8:05 PM CST up reply actions 2 recs
Hmm
Not sure I agree with that. I think they can do both.
I reject your reality and substitute my own.
by WayneCampbell08 on Dec 14, 2009 7:08 PM CST up reply actions
$3million???
If $3 million dollars to potentially fix a huge problem on this team limits anything this team can do, then forget about the Cubs winning anything next year. This team needs a lot of money thrown at it in smart ways… Matt Capps would be that kind of smart.
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Just North of Wrigley Field
by jameslcrockett on Dec 14, 2009 12:18 AM CST up reply actions
i hope that we do not use
Gregg as the measuring stick for ANY move
baseball is a game of outs......pop out, ground out, line out, pitch out, strike out, fly out, and Fox and Bud's favorite black out
I can see it now...
Better off-field than Bradley
Better slider hitter than Sori
More useful than Miles
Holy as DeRo
That’s not true!!! WHY THE F*CK WOULD YOU SAY THAT YOU AHOLE!! Ok maybe your right but you gotta give a little something here for it to work. I don’t know what I’m going to do this is the worst thing I’ve ever read, this day could not get any worse. Fine, F*ck it, you’re right.
by Ditkavsworld
more explosive than Lou
baseball is a game of outs......pop out, ground out, line out, pitch out, strike out, fly out, and Fox and Bud's favorite black out
Better 3B than Fotenot
That’s not true!!! WHY THE F*CK WOULD YOU SAY THAT YOU AHOLE!! Ok maybe your right but you gotta give a little something here for it to work. I don’t know what I’m going to do this is the worst thing I’ve ever read, this day could not get any worse. Fine, F*ck it, you’re right.
by Ditkavsworld
That is a high ERA.
But, it is only for one season. I wish we could do better than Capps as a backup for Marmol, but we may not be able to.
Uh we can do better than Capps as a backup for Marmol
HIs name is Angel Guzman.
Or his name is John Grabow.
"Hey! If the moon were made of ribs, wouldja eat it? I know I would!"
Way to tow the company line!
Censorship of anything, at any time, in any place, on whatever pretense, has always been and will always be the last resort of the boob and the bigot.
—Eugene O’Neill
by 14theofleury on Dec 14, 2009 6:50 AM CST up reply actions
There's nothing wrong with Matt Capps
His only problem was that the Pirates weren’t going to pay him $6 million bucks in arbitration, regardless of how good he was. He’s exactly the sort of middle reliever that the Cubs should be looking at, and I can only hope that the questionable Grabow signing doesn’t make a reasonable offer prohibitive.
There was a lot wrong with Matt Capps last year
It was noted above that he had a ridiculously high BABIP last year, so you can say that he was likely fairly unlucky. But his 10 HR allowed in 54 innings says that the league was hitting the ball awfully hard off of him, and that BABIP wasn’t all bad luck. Those were some truly ugly numbers.
That said, he was pretty damned good the three years prior, and for the Pirates to non-tender him was stupid. With a little forethought, they could have gotten something for him.
"Enough foreplay- let's get crackin'"- Fred Garvin
I'm not going to get too caught up
in one season for a veteran with a good body of work, especially when many seem to attribute it at least partly to luck. Besides, I was thirty feet away from Capps when he took that line drive off the elbow. He should have been shut down for a good, long time. Anything that the Pirates got out of him at that point was a plus.
The Cubs would do well to really look into this pickup.
by Damen Jackson on Dec 13, 2009 5:24 PM CST up reply actions
Looking Deeper
His stats don’t support your supposition. Capps’ Line Drive rate was close to the lowest in his career (18.7%) and his Fly Ball rate was his second lowest (40.7%). I would speculate that he was equally unlucky because his Home Run to Fly Ball ratio was very high at 13.5%. The league average is around 10%. He would be an excellent pickup.
I reject your reality and substitute my own.
by WayneCampbell08 on Dec 13, 2009 7:46 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
agreed
Get it done, Jim.
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Just North of Wrigley Field
by jameslcrockett on Dec 14, 2009 12:20 AM CST up reply actions
We need to worry about the offense first.
How many games last year did we struggle just to score two runs, even against bad pitchers? We needed a difference-making bat. If there’s not room on the field, good GM’s make deals to make room for them. There lies our problem.
I totaly agree.
Our pitching, for the most part, was the only good thing about the cubs.
by Rhymenoceros on Dec 13, 2009 5:13 PM CST up reply actions
Answer
56 times they scored 2 or fewer runs in a game. They won 5 of those games. This stuff isn’t that hard to look up. They also held the opposition to 2 or fewer runs in 55 games and lost 10 of them.
I reject your reality and substitute my own.
by WayneCampbell08 on Dec 13, 2009 7:51 PM CST up reply actions
As I understand it...
…the Cubs aren’t really looking at Capps as a closer. He’d be the right-handed veteran set-up man that Hendry has admitted to be in the market for. I think Capps wouldn’t definitely be worth a look, but I’m not sure the team can afford him. If they could keep him to a one-year deal, maybe.
Catch my act on Twitter as @dat_cubfan_dave.
Agree - the Cubs still don't have a center fielder
Don’t start shelling out $$$$$ to double up closers until key positions in the field are filled.
Capps would go into the Pen
so saying we don’t need Capps, we need to worry about the pen is sort of silly
I guess I'm just a worrier, that's why my friends call me whiskers
by Nunyabidness on Dec 14, 2009 4:04 PM CST up reply actions
Unless he's wanting to remain a closer
On ESPN.COM they mention some of the teams are wanting him as a closer, not sure if that’s important to him or not.
One baseball game, he came to the plate and heard a woman in the crowd shout to the pitcher, "I'll make you a chocolate cake if you strike out that 'so-and-so'!" Says Strong: "I hit that ball out of the park. Then I looked at her like, 'Do I get a cake now?' "
Didn't you all know?
We’re waiting to pick all of these guys off the scrap pile, because the Cubs don’t have any money! But we have money to spend on guys like Mike Cameron and Marlon Byrd, who won’t improve this team one bit.
I was hoping that we’d get a difference-maker, but of course we Cubs fans have been let down again by bad decision-making that is allowed to continue.
Wrong
Cameron is a 4 Win player. I’d call that a big difference.
I reject your reality and substitute my own.
by WayneCampbell08 on Dec 13, 2009 7:48 PM CST up reply actions
I wouldn't mind this one bit
If the price was workable. Right now, we are looking at Angel Guzman or john Grabow setting up, neither of which makes me feel comfortable.
I'd be ok with this under only a couple of conditions,
1. Sign him to maybe a 1 year deal with a 2nd year option incentive based contract.
In other words, nothing that breaks the bank
2. That hes not getting played just because hes getting paid. By this I mean that if he struggles, DON"T USE HIM!!! example; heilman example; neil cotts
Milton is our quarterback.
I just think...
… that this is a sign that there isn’t going to be much change during the offseason…
Matt Capps
When it comes to Hendry and taking players from the pirates.you know will be looking at him.it makes since since the cubs do not have an established set up man,and i think capps could be that. For the right price… 2 year deal tops..but it will be around 6mil,and thats a bit much I think
How about this guy as a set up option…. clay condrey
why assume the Cubs need a closer
especially a dicey one like Capps.
I always turn to the sports section first. The sports page records people's accomplishments; the front page has nothing but man's failures.
~Earl Warren
by lookingdeadred on Dec 14, 2009 11:26 AM CST reply actions
However...
… since he has closer experience, he could step in if something happened to Marmol.
"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra
Definitely.
According to Bruce Miles, the Cubs would be looking at keeping Capps to a one-year deal.
Catch my act on Twitter as @dat_cubfan_dave.
which is why he makes so much sense -
there’s a ton of relief depth in the Cubs farm, especially if you believe that’s what Shark ends up as.
"We’re going to come back here next year healthy and do what we’re supposed to do, and we’re going to be all right. That’s not Hendry’s fault. He thought it was the right move. It didn’t work out. But at the same time, he’s the same guy that put back-to-back championship teams together." - Aramis Ramirez
the original post implied he could close for the Cubs
hence my question
I always turn to the sports section first. The sports page records people's accomplishments; the front page has nothing but man's failures.
~Earl Warren
by lookingdeadred on Dec 16, 2009 12:04 PM CST up reply actions
JJ Putz
Instead of considering Matt Capps I wish the Cubs would have pursued JJ Putz. He would be a great setup man for Marmol (since he is now deemed the closer) and the risk of only 3 million dollars is very low (since we signed Grabow for 2 years 7.5 million).
looking to close?
12:20pm: Kinzer’s estimated number of suitors for Capps has risen to nine or ten, and he confirmed to Roch Kubatko of MASN that the Orioles expressed interest. Kinzer noted that the opportunity to close “will be a major factor” in Capps’ decision.
Well, given Marmol's skyrocketing walk totals...
…I’d say Capps would certainly have an “opportunity” to close with the Cubs.
Catch my act on Twitter as @dat_cubfan_dave.
I'd hope so...
…though there’s a big difference between Marmol’s walks and Gregg’s home runs. Carlos can often wiggle out of his excessive base on balls, but the games were often over after Gregg’s home runs.
Catch my act on Twitter as @dat_cubfan_dave.
Sucks and reminds me of Kevin Gregg?
"The riches of the game are in the thrills, not the money." --Ernie Banks
I have an idea!
Let’s throw 9 million dollars at middle relievers (Grabow and Capps) and then complain that we have to trade Milton Bradley to free up money to sign Mike Cameron.
N o kidding
why waste money on a job that someone cheaper can probably fill. Oh wait, it Jim Hendry we are talking about.
Every player should be accorded the privilege of at least one season with the Chicago Cubs. That's baseball as it should be played - in God's own sunshine. And that's really living."
Well, this is sort of//
an interesting side conversation. May I ask, for the sake of argument, who you might identify to fill that role?
by Damen Jackson on Dec 14, 2009 5:19 PM CST up reply actions
JAKE FOX
This Chicago Cubs team is currently Aaron free. Keep it that way, please.
by jesus christos on Dec 14, 2009 5:20 PM CST up reply actions
If I wasn't clear,
I’m sorry. I was referring to the late-inning relief spot in the ’pen.
by Damen Jackson on Dec 14, 2009 5:22 PM CST up reply actions
i know
twas a joke
This Chicago Cubs team is currently Aaron free. Keep it that way, please.
by jesus christos on Dec 14, 2009 6:39 PM CST up reply actions
as someone who holds the same opinion i'd suggest
caridad
gaub
guzman
stevens
jeff gray
ascanio
perhaps not all of those guys would work out, but it would be a decent bet that 2-3 of them would be capable relievers
by DartmouthCubsFan on Dec 14, 2009 5:38 PM CST up reply actions
Well,
I’d expected to hear some options from outside the organization, but this is interesting. So then, you’d feel comfortable with Piniella trying out Gaub and Caridad in the set-up role?
by Damen Jackson on Dec 14, 2009 5:45 PM CST up reply actions
The idea
is to not have to pay a free agent good money when you can fill just as well from within for the league minimum.
I see...
Well, when you find a manager willing to just role the dice on that role with any ole callup from the farm, you let me know. I’ve never seen it, and I really don’t expect too.
It’s one thing to say, “Well, I don’t think Capps is the guy”. That’s a fair opinion, I think. But that a major league manager would leave his fireman role to just anybody is really a stretch.
But hey, if it’s your opinion that the Cubs should play rock, paper, scissors with Gaub/Stevens/Guzman/et. al, to each his own.
by Damen Jackson on Dec 14, 2009 6:05 PM CST up reply actions
All I'm sayin'
Is that I’d rather play rock, paper, scissors with cheep arms than expensive ones. Relievers are largely a crap shoot. I believe the vogue word is fungible. Capps is only 26, so I wouldn’t mind taking a risk on low money. My objection is the big money he will probably command.
Relievers are not fungible...
I don’t think whoever you heard use it really understands what that word means. But okay, we can leave it here.
by Damen Jackson on Dec 14, 2009 6:29 PM CST up reply actions
I'd rather not....
I know what fungible means, and I promise it doesn’t apply to relievers.
by Damen Jackson on Dec 14, 2009 6:45 PM CST up reply actions
Suit yourself
FWIW, I didn’t place it in the right context above, but the idea is that relievers are interchangeable. I made it sound like relievers are risky, which they are. Performance varies from year to year (see J.J. Putz, B.J. Ryan, and our own Carlos Marmol). But there is also not a great drop off from one reliever to the next, and thus you can usually find cheap replacements with similar if not better results (See David Aardsma, Scott Downs, Ryan Franklin). That’s all.
you're wrong
in fact the pirates GM just had their “stats” guys run a study on top shelf relief pitchers
the most valuable relief pitchers year to year have a 60% rate of turnover, spending money on relievers in FA is usually wasted cash
by DartmouthCubsFan on Dec 14, 2009 10:12 PM CST up reply actions
Sigh...
Fungibility:
Fungibility is the property of a good or a commodity whose individual units are capable of mutual substitution. Examples of highly fungible commodities are crude oil, wheat, orange juice, precious metals, and currencies.You can argue that certain roles within a bullpen are fungible, or certain roles on a team, for that matter. No manager subscribes to the idea that anyone in his pen can close, or that just anyone can take the setup role, which was my point. Nor for that matter that they can role over those roles with whomever is handy if the old guy leaves. Even closer by committee is usually a nice way of saying I’ve got a couple of guys sharing the roles.
Not to put to fine a point on it, but the idea of spending in FA to fill out a bullpen is a reasonable thesis. However, that doesn’t make them fungible.
by Damen Jackson on Dec 14, 2009 11:00 PM CST up reply actions
if there's 60% turnover
of the top relievers in baseball EACH YEAR
i’d say its capable of mutual substitution
by DartmouthCubsFan on Dec 15, 2009 10:46 AM CST up reply actions
guzman
should’ve been the setup men, the other guys would’ve been 7th inning and matchup guys and occasionally rotated in on days when marmol or guzman need rest to do setup work
by DartmouthCubsFan on Dec 14, 2009 10:11 PM CST up reply actions
I'd be just as comfortable with Gaub and Caridad
as I would with Capps
Every player should be accorded the privilege of at least one season with the Chicago Cubs. That's baseball as it should be played - in God's own sunshine. And that's really living."
Well, Ascanio won't work out because he's a Pirate.
But the rest of those dudes should definitely be in the mix.
Catch my act on Twitter as @dat_cubfan_dave.
yeah
but ascanio was dealt for Grabow, had we not invested in grabow we would have had ascanio
by DartmouthCubsFan on Dec 15, 2009 2:10 PM CST up reply actions
Ugh
I never had any trust in Ascanio – and let me take this opportunity to complain about Jim Hendry just for you DCF – one of Hendry’s worst trades was that stupid Ohman-Infante trade.
"We’re going to come back here next year healthy and do what we’re supposed to do, and we’re going to be all right. That’s not Hendry’s fault. He thought it was the right move. It didn’t work out. But at the same time, he’s the same guy that put back-to-back championship teams together." - Aramis Ramirez
scroll up
the post wasn’t suggesting ascanio WAS the answer, it was suggesting a number of less expensive options thrown into the pen would likely produce someone that could emerge and be as productive as Grabow at a fraction of the cost
by DartmouthCubsFan on Dec 16, 2009 10:44 AM CST up reply actions
I see no reason
why Guzman can’t be looked to for this spot first. Sure, his health is an issue, but so is Capps’. There are non-prospect organizational guys too who could do this. Shoot, Thomas Diamond could end up filling this role for the league minimum. The big problem is that Capps will try to get closer money (I could see $5M or so) to play set-up man. Sure, if Capps wants to sign for $1-2M, go for it. This seems to be the same situation we got ourselves in last year. Sign Aaron Miles, make some silly trades for high priced relievers (Heilman, Gregg) and then have to trade DeRosa to save $5M.
I have a better idea!
Rather than letting Lou shred the arms of veterans not in our long term plans, let’s have him shred our prospects’ arms and then jerk Samardzija back and forth, screwing up his development even more!
:: small print ::
Official Notice: This post does not remove blame from Jim Hendry for hiring and allowing Lou to be a poor manager.
:: end small print ::
"We’re going to come back here next year healthy and do what we’re supposed to do, and we’re going to be all right. That’s not Hendry’s fault. He thought it was the right move. It didn’t work out. But at the same time, he’s the same guy that put back-to-back championship teams together." - Aramis Ramirez
Yuck
we should have more pressing priorities then getting this guy. I asked Pirates fan his opinion and he mentioned he is known as Crapps around there.
Every player should be accorded the privilege of at least one season with the Chicago Cubs. That's baseball as it should be played - in God's own sunshine. And that's really living."
matt capps
throws strikes
that makes him ineligible for our 2010 bullpen
by DartmouthCubsFan on Dec 14, 2009 5:31 PM CST reply actions
Matt Capps is probably not all healthy
We have too many issues already without adding a dubious risk to the bullpen. I take a pass.
The Blackhawks and the Stanley Cup in 2010.
What exactly is dubious
If the team doctors give a thumbs up on his medical records? And seriously, can I at least get you to look at his stats in September before making that judgment? He had a real nice finish that I would have hoped might alleviate at least some of your concerns.
by Damen Jackson on Dec 14, 2009 6:16 PM CST up reply actions
Here’s a quote from Matt Capps agent…
“Matt has interest in the Cubs,” the agent said. “We know they like him, but we’ll be proactive in this market. You can’ t just wait for one team.”
The KEY word there is “wait”. Hendry is gonna screw around with this Bradley ordeal and before you know it, guess who will be starting in RF come April?
And if it comes down to signing Ankiel just to say he signed someone, Hendry can forget that, too. Ankiel isn’t the answer.
I agree that the “pen” isn’t really that big of a deal. I like Grabow and Guzman to set-up Marmol. My point is that if Hendry drags this MB thing on and on, then all that will be left as far as free agents will “has beens” and “was nots”. He’s already lost Cameron (who I think wanted to come to Cubs).
Maybe this upcoming year won’t be as bad as last, due to the fact that I was really expecting alot last year and was…again…disappointed. At least this year coming I don’t, nor won’t, get my hopes sky high again.
I've said this...
in prior posts, but The Indians are shopping Wood. If a deal were to happen, it would be much more favorable from a Cub point of view to send Bradley to Cleveland for Wood. The Indians would get an OF/DH that is capable of putting up big numbers. The Cubs get a setup guy that could slip into a closer role if need be. This way, the Cubs could eat half of the second year and get something serviceable in return.
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