The Ivy Covered Burial Ground: Matt Capps

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Matt Capps

I wonder how much real interest there is in Matt Capps and how much of it is hype generated by his agent when he was rather surprisingly non-tendered. From the Cubs point-of-view, there should be no interest. His numbers last year were worse than Gregg's. He had two good years closing for a last place team that was under no pressure whatsoever playing meaningless games in a virtually empty stadium.

Here's the thing. For some reason, Cubs' management consistently overvalues middle relievers. These guys are middle relievers for one good reason. Their stuff is not good enough to start or to close. So they are always inconsistent. The exception to this is young pitchers usually from your own system who need seasoning to drop into one of the roles that genuinely talented pitchers fill. The Cubs have a ton of these guys on their major league and upper minor league rosters and a first-class closer prospect in Carlos Marmol, so why they have any interest in a guy like Capps, who in addition to having had an awful season wants good money and a multiple year contract, beats me.

But then the Cubs have always been bottom feeders in the market, so it is probably no great surprise that they like this guy.

2 comments:

AnonymousDecember 18, 2009 at 1:55 PM
How were Silva's stats before the last 2 yrs? How much of Silva's and Bradley's $ do the Cubs have to eat, or is it just a swap of 2 useless players. At least the Cubs got rid of the jerk. Maybe now there will be some personnel acquisitiions by Donut Hendry.

BeagleMan
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NDecember 20, 2009 at 10:34 PM
Silva actually came up with the Phillies and pitched pretty well in middle relief for two seasons. He became a starter with the Twins and was with them for four seasons before signing as a free agent with the Mariners. He was OK with the Twins, better in his first two years when he was 23-16, than his last when he was 24-29. In Seattle he was just awful.

The Cubs are essentially paying him $16M over two years after accounting for the $9 they get from the Mariners. I think there is some ridiculous club option for like $12M or a buyout for $2M in 2012.
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A Manifesto of Sorts

Somehow I have been conditioned to be a Cubs fan. I grew up with the profound conviction that it was nearly impossible or at least a feat of some exceptional athletic prowess to throw a baseball accurately from third base or the hole at shortstop to first base. This odd belief was fostered no doubt by the great fuss Jack Brickhouse made when a Cub infielder actually succeeded in doing so and from the observation of Handsome Ransom Jackson and Roy Smalley, Cubs stalwarts of the era, who rarely succeeded in that endeavor. It was only when I began playing the game in earnest in sandlots and little league that I came to realize it was really not all that hard to do.

Another legacy of my youth was the observation fostered by my father, a lifelong fan, that every Cubs executive who followed William Veeck, Sr., Bill Veeck's father, was an utter nitwit, as were most of the managers they hired. In this opinion, he was not far from the truth, and I cherish it as one of the few useful bits of knowledge he passed on to me.

Anyway, like all fans, I can dream. And, I suppose, rant.

By the way, I owe the title of this blog a line in the Steve Goodman song, "Dying Cubs Fan's Last Request."