Capuano will not return to Milwaukee

[TooLiveBrew]

Like tyguy said, the Brewers wanted & pursued Cappy. He just wanted a role where he'd have a more clear-cut chance to start, so he told the Brewers 'no thanks'. Fire Melvin!

[PrinceEatMeat]

It's too bad that Cappy wasn't willing to stay, but I can understand where he was coming from. He would've gotten a chance right now, but there was no guarantee that was gonna happen.

[RockCoCougars]

I don't quite get the whole, 'We couldn't guarantee Capuano the 5 spot" thing. Seriously, what would it have hurt to do so? Make Narveson the #6 on paper, and in the extremely unlikely scenario that a starter isn't injured by the end of April (when did this last happen for the Brewers - 1986?), he's the long guy in the bullpen, ready to step in when- not if- a starter goes down.

[BrewersSuperCollector]

Good for him.

 

http://www.rotoworld.com/...r/mlb/3671/chris-capuano

[PrinceEatMeat]

I don't quite get the whole, 'We couldn't guarantee Capuano the 5 spot" thing. Seriously, what would it have hurt to do so? Make Narveson the #6 on paper, and in the extremely unlikely scenario that a starter isn't injured by the end of April (when did this last happen for the Brewers - 1986?), he's the long guy in the bullpen, ready to step in when- not if- a starter goes down.

Yeah, I probably would've done that too. Then if he sucked, just give Narveson the spot. If he's good, which is what happened, then we are probably better off.

[Ennder]

I don't quite get the whole, 'We couldn't guarantee Capuano the 5 spot" thing. Seriously, what would it have hurt to do so? Make Narveson the #6 on paper, and in the extremely unlikely scenario that a starter isn't injured by the end of April (when did this last happen for the Brewers - 1986?), he's the long guy in the bullpen, ready to step in when- not if- a starter goes down.

There is no reason to think Capuano can pitch a full season so this really isn't that big of a deal. I'm upset that Melvin left the starting pitching so thin and there are a 100 of ways he could have fixed it but this isn't any better than just having some old dude in long relief waiting to start if needed or some mediocre guy signed to a minor league deal.

 

I'm sure Capuano will done fine if he makes the Mets, pitching in Petco east makes any pitcher look good unless they walk everyone like Perez.

[RockCoCougars]

Time will tell on Capuano, though my gut says he has a good year. The bottom line is that letting Cappy walk hurt the rotation depth in a big way. Regarding the current situation- if Greinke is out longer than expected- or heaven forbid, another pitcher goes down- there will be problems. All of a sudden, the Rogers/Rivas fall back option isn't looking so hot. The cupboard is pretty much bare. Melvin had better be scouring the waiver wire for pitching over the next week and a half.

[JJHardy7]

I still don't think they let Cappy walk. I think DM probably laid out what he thought the rotation would look like and I'm sure Cappy knows more than anyone injuries can happen. He probably just wanted more of a guarantee. Can't blame DM for helping him out and being honest and also can't blame Cappy for doing what is best for him. I wish him all the luck in the world.

[Kpanz20]

You can blame DM and company for not giving Cappy the 5th SP job or at least first crack at it. How could they not sell him on that?

 

Narveson could have been the long man in the pen and first to move up with an injury. Narveson may have "deserved" the spot more due to recent production and less injury risk, but it would have been worth it to put him below Capuano, just to have more depth.

[BREWCREW5]

Time will tell on Capuano, though my gut says he has a good year. The bottom line is that letting Cappy walk hurt the rotation depth in a big way. Melvin had better be scouring the waiver wire for pitching over the next week and a half.

You can blame Melvin all you want for the depth problem but Capuano did not want to resign here because he wanted a shot to start somewhere. He had a much better chance somewhere else.

 

You were the same one blaming Melvin and blasting him on here for not bringing back Sheets until his arm fell off again.

[RockCoCougars]

Time will tell on Capuano, though my gut says he has a good year. The bottom line is that letting Cappy walk hurt the rotation depth in a big way. Melvin had better be scouring the waiver wire for pitching over the next week and a half.

You can blame Melvin all you want for the depth problem but Capuano did not want to resign here because he wanted a shot to start somewhere. He had a much better chance somewhere else.

 

You were the same one blaming Melvin and blasting him on here for not bringing back Sheets until his arm fell off again.

The reason that Capuano didn't want to sign here was that the Brewers' interest was lukewarm at best. He actually seemed disappointed that it didn't work out if you ask me... go back and check the blogs.

 

I did blast Melvin for not even pursuing Sheets on an incentive laden deal. Would I have given him $10 million, no? Hindsight is 20/20, and I'll admit that I'm wrong just as much if not more than I'm right. Keep in mind that Melvin was responsible for spending $16 million plus on the Suppan/Davis combo that provided exactly one win and an ERA of over 7 in 70 brutal innings. Makes the production that Oakland got out of Sheets look like a huge bargain by comparison.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Yeah, that's what I got from it too. I really think Cappy would've preferred to stay. The Brewers just didn't seem interested enough. We went into the offseason with Cappy out of our plans. I really don't know why we were set on giving Narveson the 5 spot, but oh well I guess.

[TooLiveBrew]

"Check[ing] the blogs" reveals that Capuano wanted a more guaranteed spot to start, just like everyone has been saying in this thread. I couldn't find anything to indicate Capuano felt jilted by the Brewers. The decision to part seems, at the very worst, mutual.

 

McCalvy:

1/6/11 -- I thought some Brewers fans may also be interested in the deal Chris Capuano signed with the Mets. Milwaukee made him an offer to return early in the offseason, but the sides broke off talks after the Zack Greinke trade essentially completed the Brewers' rotation.

Haudricourt:

12/7/10 -- Ash said he plans to meet at some point with Michael Moye, the agent for left-hander Chris Capuano. The Brewers have an offer out to him, too, but haven't received an answer. "He wanted the opportunity to talk to all the other clubs," said Ash.

...

12/9/10 -- The Brewers are still waiting for a response from agent Michael Moye about their offer to free-agent lefty Chris Capuano. Moye obviously has been looking around to see what other interest there might be on the market, especially since there's no set role for Capuano with the Brewers at this point.

...

12/27/10 -- General manager Doug Melvin told me today that both sides agreed to break off negotiations with left-hander Chris Capuano after the Brewers added Shaun Marcum and Zack Greinke to the starting rotation in recent weeks.

 

Melvin had extended an incentive-laden offer to Capuano shortly after the season but the pitcher preferred to explore the market as a first-time free agent.

 

The Brewers already have five starters lined up for next year with Greinke, Marcum, Yovani Gallardo, Randy Wolf and Chris Narveson.

 

“Chris wants to be a starting pitcher and we don’t see a match at this time,” said Melvin. “We like Chris a lot but we both decided it was best he look elsewhere. I heard teams are showing interest.”

And here is a tweet from ESPN New York reporter Adam Rubin when Cappy signed with the Mets:

Capuano has $1.5 million base+incentives. A 2-time TJ surgery patient, Brew wasn't option after added Greinke/Marcum since he wants to start

That's literally everything I can find. Can you share where you saw on a blog that Cappy was disappointed?

[dlk9s]

Yes, let's get mad at Doug Melvin for bringing in two stud pitchers to give the Brewers a very formidable one through four in the rotation and then not being able to dishonestly guarantee Capuano the fifth spot.

 

What disappoints me the most, and I believe I brought it up in the "farewell to Cappy" thread, is that the Brewers now have no more soap stars.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Honestly, I wouldn't've had a problem with Doug guaranteeing Cappy the 5th spot. Narveson wasn't really any better than Cappy last year, and I think Cappy could've held it down. If he faltered somewhere along the way we would then have insurance in Narveson. I never saw a problem with doing that, but it's all in the past now. Narveson should be an ok 5th starter, and really we are only struggling to fill a couple starts at this point. We just need to hope that no significant injuries happen before Rogers is stretched out and completely healthy and ready to go. If Rogers was ready to take that 5th spot right now, we wouldn't even be having this conversation right now. Once we are a comfortable 6 deep, with Parra also healthy as insurance, we'll be perfectly fine.

[MJLiverock]

I'd have greater confidence in Narveson being able to throw 5+ innings on a consistent basis vs. relying on Cappy to hold up for 150+ innings at this point. Nothing against Cappy but given his age, injury history, why pay more money for more uncertainty? I'm not going to get too excited about less than a dozen spring innings for Cappy and declare he has returned to pre injury form just yet.

[endaround]

Capuano isn't an idiot. He knew that he'd be in competition with the Brewers at best. In many other cities he's have a rotation spot if he showed he was healthy.

[RockCoCougars]

First of all, I don't think that it's a stretch at all to write Capuano a spot ahead of Narveson. What exactly has Narveson done to earn this lead pipe lock status as a starter? Secondly, for those of you questioning Capuano's durability, have you looked at Narveson's track record? You do realize that last year was the first time in 11 pro seasons that Narveson went 150 innings, don't you? Combine that with the fact that Narveson has pitched poorly this spring, and I think there is cause for worry.

 

I still say that Cappy wanted to come back and the Brewers completely low balled him just to say they made an offer. Things wouldn't have dragged on as long as they did if this wasn't the case. Going further, everything I've read about Capuano this past week says that he 'won the 5th starter job', meaning nothing was promised to him by the Mets either.

[PrinceEatMeat]

First of all, I don't think that it's a stretch at all to write Capuano a spot ahead of Narveson. What exactly has Narveson done to earn this lead pipe lock status as a starter? Secondly, for those of you questioning Capuano's durability, have you looked at Narveson's track record? You do realize that last year was the first time in 11 pro seasons that Narveson went 150 innings, don't you? Combine that with the fact that Narveson has pitched poorly this spring, and I think there is cause for worry.

 

I still say that Cappy wanted to come back and the Brewers completely low balled him just to say they made an offer. Things wouldn't have dragged on as long as they did if this wasn't the case. Going further, everything I've read about Capuano this past week says that he 'won the 5th starter job', meaning nothing was promised to him by the Mets either.

Yep, exactly. He wasn't guaranteed anything there either. There's no way he would've went there over Milwaukee unless we didn't really make him a good offer. That's just how it is. It's unfortunate, but like I said before we will have some good insurance when Rogers and Parra are healthy. Hopefully, this won't end up being an issue. I think it's just gonna be a problem for a few starts here in April and then we will be fine.

[TooLiveBrew]

I still say that Cappy wanted to come back and the Brewers completely low balled him just to say they made an offer.

So is it safe to assume, then, that you have nothing tangible to back this up?

[PrinceEatMeat]

I still say that Cappy wanted to come back and the Brewers completely low balled him just to say they made an offer.

So is it safe to assume, then, that you have nothing tangible to back this up?

I can believe that he wanted to come back, but I don't think anyone really knows the exact offer we made or why he didn't take it. He wasn't guaranteed anything in New York except a chance to compete for a rotation spot. I guess he wasn't offered that here then. He probably should've been allowed to compete with Narveson, but he obviously wasn't. That's probably the reason in my opinion. Based on the blog comments you listed above, I would have to say that this would be the case.

[TooLiveBrew]

I don't think you can honestly look at the Mets' starting pitching & the Brewers' starting pitching at the time Capuano made his decision & tell me he had an equal shot to make the rotation with either team. The Mets were clearly a better opportunity for him. All of the comments indicate Capuano was looking for his best shot at starting, not that the Brewers lowballed him just so they could say they made him an offer.

[RockCoCougars]

I still say that Cappy wanted to come back and the Brewers completely low balled him just to say they made an offer.

So is it safe to assume, then, that you have nothing tangible to back this up?

From an ESPN article...obviously the Brewers offer was lacking in both cash and opportunity. The Mets promised him nothing, but it sounds like the Brewers basically pushed him out the door.

"Similarly, Capuano's contract was structured to account for him being a

starting pitcher. He has a base salary of $1.5 million and can max out

at $4.5 million with 32 starts and 200 innings.

Capuano's contract does provide for $500,000 in bonuses on top of the

$1.5 million base salary if he makes 60 relief appearances. But the

reason he signed with the Mets and broke off talks with the Milwaukee Brewers,

his former team, is because his interest was in starting and not in

working in relief and the Mets were interested in him for a rotation

role.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I still say that Cappy wanted to come back and the Brewers completely low balled him just to say they made an offer.

So is it safe to assume, then, that you have nothing tangible to back this up?

From an ESPN article...obviously the Brewers offer was lacking in both cash and opportunity. The Mets promised him nothing, but it sounds like the Brewers basically pushed him out the door.

"Similarly, Capuano's contract was structured to account for him being a

starting pitcher. He has a base salary of $1.5 million and can max out

at $4.5 million with 32 starts and 200 innings.

Capuano's contract does provide for $500,000 in bonuses on top of the

$1.5 million base salary if he makes 60 relief appearances. But the

reason he signed with the Mets and broke off talks with the Milwaukee Brewers,

his former team, is because his interest was in starting and not in

working in relief and the Mets were interested in him for a rotation

role.

That doesn't say they low-balled him. It just says that we couldn't offer him a shot at a starting role, which we already knew.

[TooLiveBrew]

TH reported that the Brewers' offer was incentive-based as well, but like I said, the opportunity is what the Mets had/have over the Brewers. The last sentence you quoted says it all. Chris is a smart guy, he knew there was a chance he could've wound up working in a starting role. He just felt he had a far greater chance with the Mets, and he was 100% right. There's nothing from that article that says anything about a lowball offer (in terms of money), you're completely inserting that.