Getting to Know Your First Winter Meeting Hot Stove Frenzy Object

This kind of move strikes me as activity for its own sake. I can’t really see any reason why Capuano should be expected to be any better then Kevin Slowey next season. So why spend money on a guy like this? You already have guys like this.

depending on the price. It could easily be a Pavano 2.0 move. I’d still prefer Buehrle but Capuano could be able to step in and make 30+ starts and eat around 200 innings.

so that’s a major plus, not a minus, to me. :)

Would be nice to have two geniuses in the rotation (Slowey being the other one).

When he was with the Brewers and I had a Nationals ticket package. He was dominating at times back then, at least against the terrible Nats, but looking at his stats there’s nothing too impressive.

I guess I’d call it low-risk, medium reward. He can probably contribute and be inexpensive, which I generally like, but he wasn’t isn’t really an upgrade.

Low Risk, High reward?

Thanks for clearing that up. Hopefully no maintenance is required.

Actually strikes guys out at a better clip than 4/5 of our rotation last year. I dunno if he’s a 2 year 2-3 million per year that seems like a decent risk to take.

It really depends on what comes next. Do we flip Pavano to save money and use that money for a more top end starting pitcher? If the plan is to move Duensing to the bullpen then it would be nice to have another lefty in the rotation just to mix it up a little. So he’s not a bad guy to have on the team especially at what should be an affordable rate.

The bad. He made it into the 7th inning in only 10 of his games last year and into the 8th only twice as opposed to Pavano getting into the 7th 23 times last year and the 8th 10 times. He gets hammered in players 3rd at bat against him as well.

These could be lingering effects of the Tommy John surgeries as well. Maybe his stamina will get better a year removed who knows. So while he’s not a bad option and the peripherals look nice, he could be a bullpen eater rather than an innings eater as some have suggested.

Mark Buehrle would be better but … he’s probably going to move to the NL somewhere.

I don’t think we should give up on Slowey just yet. He’s young, throws strikes and is a decent pitcher if he can stay healthy (which should happen if we get a new training staff). Slowey seems to have pitched the best when he was working at a Mark Buehrle pace and not a Joe Nathan “fiddle with a billion things before I get ready to pitch” pace.

for the next 3-4 years.

In a world where Bruce Chen gets a 2 year deal for $9M, why does anyone think Capuano can be signed for $2-3M on a one year deal or $5.5M for two years?

Or, for that matter, trade away Pavano and use the freed-up money to get someone better? Front line talent costs $10M and up these days.

That said, I agree with the “low risk” part of this equation, but I’m not seeing the “high reward” part. Capuano’s not going to challenge to become a staff ace, wherever he goes. Come playoff time, will the Yankees or BoSox or Rangers or Rays tremble when they look ahead and see Capuano as the guy they’ll face in game 2 or 3?

Does anyone else get nervous at the idea of adding a guy to the Twins pitching staff whose name starts with the letters C-a-p?

No Dookies! heh