The Padres have called up reliever Carter Capps, per a club announcement. Southpaw Buddy Baumann was optioned to create active roster space; Capps had previously been activated from the DL and optioned to Triple-A.
It has been a long road back for the big righty, who last pitched in a major league game on August 2nd of 2015. At the time, he was authoring a remarkable breakout season in which he had thrown 31 innings of 1.16 ERA ball with a ridiculous 16.8 K/9 against 2.0 BB/9.
Capps left his most recent MLB appearance with an elbow problem that ultimately required Tommy John surgery. The procedure took place in March of last year, so the rehab process has been somewhat more grueling than most — though to some degree the duration was tied to Capps’s famously funky mechanics, as MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell notes.
The Pads took a shot on Capps by acquiring him as part of the 2016 swap that sent Andrew Cashner and (temporarily) Colin Rea to the Marlins. San Diego ultimately avoided arbitration with Capps for just under $1MM in the hopes that he’d return to action for a decent portion of the current season.
Things may not have gone quite as smoothly as hoped, but there’s still some cause for optimism for both player and team. Capps will have nearly two months to showcase his health and reputedly streamlined delivery, with the Pads watching to assess whether to offer him arbitration again this fall. While his initial attempt at a rehab stint wasn’t very successful, Capps has shown better of late. Through 25 2/3 total innings at Triple-A this year, he carries a 2.81 ERA with 28 strikeouts and nine walks.
Really looking forward to seeing how he does. He held them scoreless in 17 of his last 18 at AAA, so hopefully he’s all the way back.
It’s crazy to me how even with just 1+ years of team control left, he’s still treated like a prospect. He’s pitched in 135.1 major league innings with rather pedestrian results if you ask me. 3.99 ERA 3.07 FIP 93 ERA+ 1.0 HR/9—not bad by any means but I feel like teams have been holding on to this “he could be amazing” idea since 2011, and now, he’s 27 with an arm thats been through the ringer and pedestrian major league results.
Even his minor league numbers, albeit solid for the PCL, are driven by a .254 BABIPa.
I hope he’s able to generate more soft contact than in years past and I genuinely hope I’m wrong. He’d be a great story, but I just don’t see it.
Came back from tommy John and his style of pitching was banned. He had to change his approach
He pitched to a 1.10 FIP and a 1.16 era while striking out 16 per 9 the last time he was in the major leagues. He only threw 30 innings but he was pretty good the 20 innings before that in Miami. He’s not exactly old, I can understand the optimism on him
Pretty much what jbigz12 said. We got him as part of a package for some guy who was about to leave at the end of the season. Best case scenario he returns to 2015 form and Preller gets a nice prospect for him at the deadline next year.
For someone like you that claims to be a Padres fan, I would think that the best case scenario would be that he pitches well and your team signs him to a deal that keeps him there for a few more years. From everything the team’s owners are saying, Padres are supposed to start being good in 2019, so having a 1-2 punch of Capps and Hand in the bullpen is better than a prospect. Trading away a good pitcher just when you are starting to be playing for a playoff spot is never a good scenario, let alone best case.
I don’t see how the pads are any good until at least 2020. They don’t have any pitching coming up until 2019 and it’s hard to count on them right away. Things can change but I can’t see them being good that soon. Renfroe needs to take a step forward with his plate discipline or he is just an okay player. Margot looks good so far not great yet. Then you have wil Myers and a bunch of other guys right now so I don’t know how that turns into 2019 success today. I assume Hand and/or Capps will be shipped out by then so who knows what the pen will look like.
Hey Pads Fans. Trading him does not bar us from signing him. Best case scenario we do what the Yankees did with Aroldis Chapman last year. And with his injury history I don’t see it being too prohibitive.
P.S. I see you downvoting my comments.
Padres have some pitching coming up. Lockett kelly lamets already up. Theyve got some guys who may get a call up end of august like lockett kelly rodriguez huffman and see what you have.
But majority of their pitching talent is at least 2019 2020 time line.
Lamet has a solid arm he might be a decent starter. Rest of those guys don’t bring much and definitely aren’t going to push you toward being good in 19. Maybe you catch fire and find a decent end of the rotation guy out of one of them but I wouldn’t hold my breath. The padres aren’t in terrible shape but I can’t see a good ball club on the field until at least 2020. And like I said renfroe has to improve his plate discipline and you have to see a lot more out of Wil Myers. You have plenty of super utility guys up there pirela, spangenberg but they aren’t ideal starters. there are some guys in the system but they aren’t that close yet. Preller has plenty of work to do
With the padres sterling reputation of identifying and developing players, 2020 is clearly not the right year.
Maybe 2035
Ummm you must have forgotten but this sham happened prior to aj. The padres had some of the best pitching in baseball
Padres not competing 2019.
See more Myers? How about worthless overpaid has been on another team
I wouldn’t call Myers a has been. More like a never reason was
LMAO. The PCL is a place where a .290 BA is meh. Where 5 teams have a .290 BA including the pitchers. It’s a place where the average ERA is 4.82 and a 4.00 ERA is considered a good one. If he had a 2.81 ERA he was beyond just good. In the article referenced it says he has kept the opposing team scoreless in 17 or his last 18 outings. In the PCL! In a pitchers park like Petco he should have an era about a point lower than he did in the PCL. If the Padres are going to trade him like the Padres fans on here think, can it be to the O’s? Please? Pretty please even?
He will be one of the best closers next year and AJ is gonna flip him for a BUTT-LOAD. Hello Natoinals front-office!
Idk if I’d go that far yet, he has had to re-work his delivery and I think that definitely took some of his advantage away. It’ll be interesting to see if Hand or Capps gets the ball in the 9th once Capps gets into the swing of things. I’m definitely a Capps fan but we’ll see how the new delivery plays in the bigs
I dont think he ever returns to form. Seems like the guys with awkward deliveries get hurt once then just go downhill. But man was he dominant that last year he played. Reminds me of Johnny Venters just electric stuff but not meant to last long
12 to 18 months is the typical recovery time, so not out of the ordinary. I could imagine that a guy with all those moving parts in his delivery would take a while to get his mechanics back in line. He is one of the most fun guys to watch pitch with that little hop.
I don’t understand how his pitching “style” is allowed. He jumps a foot and a half towards the plate before throwing the ball. He already throws hard. So how the eff is that fair?
He’s a goof
I don’t understand how nobody cared/s about the guys that did it before him, but then made it their mission to crucify him for the delivery
Nice, we finally get to see him in action after all this time. Hopefully he can go back to his old form. As far as trading goes, I don’t think Preller will be ask quick to trade him if he does start having success. Id say Hand would probably be traded before Capps.
Hand probably goes in the offseason and Capps at next year’s deadline. He needs time to build his trade value back up. He is a free agent after the 2018 season.
Ok Buster Olney
Short bus
Hand value will not be higher off season
Not a Padres fan but would love to see Carter do well!
What a circus show
Looks like Maton is AJ’s favorite son…and that scares me. He does not have overpowering stuff, no wipeout pitch and is giving up some bombs!!! Broadcasters have said “closer of the future”. They are hearing that from the front office…he was brought up too soon.
Padre announcers are joke no one takes them seriously