The Yankees have designated lefty Chris Capuano yet again, as Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets. His roster spot was needed for the activation of righty Michael Pineda. (New York also optioned Nick Rumbelow and activated Nick Goody, both of whom are also right-handed pitchers.)
Remarkably, this marks the fourth time in the last month that Capuano has hit DFA limbo. With a $5MM salary for this season and an unsightly 7.71 ERA, Capuano has cleared outright waivers and accepted an assignment to Triple-A on the three prior occasions.
The return of Pineda came somewhat sooner than had been expected, as he ultimately missed about a month with a right forearm strain. His health and effectiveness will obviously be critical down the stretch as the Yankees fight for the division title. And Pineda will also be pitching for his next contract, as he’ll hit arbitration for the second (and second-to-last) time over the winter looking to build off of his $2.1MM salary from the present season.
Capuano should be able to file a grievance here because this is absurd.
Uh, no? He’s free to reject it, and sign with another club…if anyone wants to actually sign him.
He’s more than welcome to decline to report to AAA anytime he likes and forgo the remaining portion of the 5m left coming to him this year should he choose.. but he won’t.. He;s smart enough to know he’s worth league minimum as a MLB player.
Probably right, but at this point in the season the difference between the prorated balance of his contract and the league minimum isn’t so dramatic. I wonder whether he’s been packing and repacking his bags with every promotion and DFA. That would probably be more annoying as a player than anything else because it disrupts your work routine and makes it harder to rebuild value, which I am sure is his goal.
He has enough service time to elect Free Agency and get paid in full, apparently he already did that the last time he was DFA’d and the Yankees re-signed him.
I guess this is what I don’t understand. Since he elected free agency last time and then re-signed, he is no longer under the $5 million contract. He gets the money from the Yankees under it because of his seniority, but he is now under the new contract. Did he really sign a prorated $5 million contract so that he would not be picked up off of waivers? If he signed a minimum contract, he might still be grabbed on waivers, right?
He signed a one-year contract with the Yankees for $5M last December, so I don’t think so. He could be claimed off waivers for the prorated balance, about $1M. Anybody who claimed him would be doing the Yankees and Capuano a pretty big favor. He also has the right to refuse assignment, elect free agency, in which case the Yankees are also off the hook for the balance owned to him. Pretty sure that’s right.
He’s given up six HR and 30 runs in only 35 innings this year. I’m not sure he has any room to grieve.
He wouldn’t be in this situation if he playing well enough to justify a 5 MM dollar salary. This situation is a result of Capuano being bad at his job.
There’s no grievance. If he wants to be a free agent, he can decline. He doesn’t have to stay in the Yankee system.
Chris “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” Capuano.
What’s absurd is his ERA. See YA
Hey, we like you. Now, sign here…No wait. Wait a minute, you suck. Get outta here, you!
That has to be some sort of record.
Pineda took his place on the roster and his ability to pitch.
I was actually surprised to see that the Yanks kept bring him back over taking a shot with Justin Masterson. Neither has had a good season but there has to be more of an upside with Masterson. Since Masterson was released, NY would only have to give him the prorated league min. Not saying he would have come in and been an ace, but he has the potential to give you more than Capuano.
Guys, there HAS to be someone at MLBTR who can tell us if Capuano is setting MLB DFA history this season.