Reliever Matt Capps officially signed a one-year, $3.5MM deal with the Nationals today. He can earn another $425K for games finished. ESPN's Jerry Crasnick first named the Nats a strong contender for Capps on December 21st. ESPN's Buster Olney had the Nats closing in on the 23rd, and MLB.com's Bill Ladson had an agreement being reached on the 24th. ESPN's Bruce Levine added the terms later that day.
The Cubs and Mets were other late contenders for Capps, but his best shot at closing was in Washington. The Nationals have the option of keeping Capps for 2011 as an arbitration-eligible player. He was surprisingly non-tendered by the Pirates on December 12th, and many teams expressed interest. Capps, 26, had an off-year for the Bucs in '09, posting a 5.80 ERA with an abundance of hits and home runs in 54.3 innings.
Tim Dierkes contributed to this post.
I’m surprised no one else wanted him.
I’m also surprised no one has even called Kiko Calero, yet.
Setup guys are a dime a dozen now a days it seems. Most teams will save the money and try to find one in their minor league system rather than pay $2-3M for one.
john w, your exactly right
This signing may drive Kiko’s pricetag up.
I predict Capps to be the NATS opening day slated closer. It will be interesting to see if Capps can return to his 2008 form where he saved games and also had a reasonable earned run average. For the Nationals, it’s a decent gamble to fill a position of need.
Who did the Nats bump off the 40-man roster to make room for Capps?