27
2011
Hits and Misses: What Cappy Said, What Fred and Jeff Might Say
An article by 
Put A Cap On That
Last Friday, Mets starter Chris Capuano had a very telling response to a question of whether he would re-sign with the Mets in the offseason. Let’s see if you can catch what I caught.
“I love New York. I love living in New York, and I’ve had nothing but positive experiences playing here, so of course I would love to be back. It all depends on how the Mets’ offseason shapes up. What free-agent acquisitions they make, and Johan Santana is coming back next year. A lot of that depends on the Mets.”
There… Did you catch that?
It all depends on how the Mets’ offseason shapes up. What free-agent acquisitions they make…
What does that mean exactly? I’ll tell you what it means… It means Capuano won’t re-sign unless he sees the Mets make significant improvements that will make the team a contender. That’s how most top players and free agents view things. Nobody wants to pay for a loser unless the loser overpays millions more than their next best offer… Then maybe they’ll think about it… Isn’t that right, Jason?
So after the Mets helped get Capuano’s career back on track, he’s now ready to go out and get his $8-10 million dollar a year deal from another team, presumably a playoff contender.
Maybe Alderson should have unloaded Capuano to the Red Sox when he had the chance?
Why didn’t he?
If you were willing to unload your team’s closer and their best hitter in the middle of a wild card run, what was the big deal in keeping Capuano for a couple of meaningless starts in September anyway?
So What’ll It Be This Time Fred and Jeff?
For the last few years, just like clockwork, Fred and Jeff Wilpon have made a point of appearing on WFAN or SNY immediately after the end of the season to make some sort of an apology or provide an explanation as to why the season went as badly as it did. I’ve actually enjoyed these appearances by them because they always come out feeling like a fireside chat.
Usually, they tell us exactly what you would expect to hear and they even throw in a few promises (which may or may not be fulfilled) with the goal of renewing our hopes that things will be much better next season. I wonder what they will say this year? It looks like we may finish with an even worse record than last season which they called “unacceptable”. Here are some of their past quotes:
In October 2008, Jeff Wilpon said:
“I demand a better performance from this team, and the fans deserve better. I want to see a Championship-caliber team competing right to the end in October. The team will be as aggressive as it has been in the past (regarding spending) . We don’t just want to compete, we want to win a Championship.”
In October 2009, Jeff Wilpon said:
“We’re going to be aggressive, we have to be, whether it’s in trades or free agents. We are in a results town, in a results business. We will expend whatever resources are needed, whatever that is, to put a Championship team on the field.”
In October 2010, Fred Wilpon said:
“We have always gone over budget in the 30 years I have been here… I don’t remember one time in all of Omar or before Omar, where the baseball department has come to Ownership and said, ‘We’d like to do this, this or this,’ and we turned them down… The new GM will get that same opportunity and latitude.”
That last quote is a real head-scratcher considering that all we kept hearing was how Sandy Alderson’s hands were tied… Were they?
Anyway, here’s a few things I’d love to hear them say to re-energize the fan base when they deliver their state of the union message in the next week or so.
1. We guarantee that Jose Reyes will lead-off and play shortstop for the Mets on Opening Day in 2012.
2. We promise not to spend the next six months trying to sell you a pre-2008 version of Johan Santana as the ace of the team in 2012, and we will make every attempt to sign or trade for a top of the rotation starter this winter.
3. Payroll will not be reduced and the general manager will have the same budget as his predecessor Omar Minaya. If he chooses to spend less than $140 million dollars, it will be his doing and not because of any restrictions we placed on him.
4. We are committed to reducing the dimensions at Citi Field and making it a fair ballpark that won’t punish our offense the way that it has, and we will change the colors of the walls from black to Mets blue.
Oh yeah, and retire Mike Piazza’s number while you’re at it….
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 23 | 18 | .561 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 19 | .548 | 0.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 22 | .476 | 3.5 |
| Mets | 16 | 24 | .400 | 6.5 |
| Marlins | 11 | 31 | .262 | 12.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
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I read Cap’s comments to read this: Santana is coming back, so that’s another spot in the rotation filled. I want to start. If there is no guarantee that I will start for the Mets, I’m not re-signing with the Mets. No so much that the team needs to be fixed. Probably wouldn’t hurt, but this statement is “I want to start” above all else.
Why would Capuano be worried about not starting when he started 30 games this season? If he were to come back and Santana returned to the rotation, the guy who gets bounced from the rotation should be Pelfrey who I hope they non tender anyway.
Because he’s marginal at this point, looking for a 2+ year deal at probably 4+ per and doesn’t want to worry about having to pitch out of the pen.
I took it that way too.
1. Jose Reyes will not be back.
2. They will sell Santana as the ace of the staff right up until the day before the season starts when they will place him on the DL.
3. Payroll will not be over $100M
4. The walls will still be black.
Kevin – Please go back and look at Joe’s final list of 4 – I like it so much better than yours
kevin,
here are my answers to your top 4:
1. reyes should be back, unless our F/O is thinking on moneyballing him
2. why you think they didn’t pitch santana this season? they were afraid to show us his velocity and “progression”.. remember chie men wang?
3. agree on payroll, although some IDIOTS Amight argue “ohh, look at tampa bay and his $42 million dollar payroll.. while forgetting how they pile up 1st round picks EVERY YEAR they suck from 98-2007
4. are the walls black???
Man, talk about reading into the most generic player response.
Let’s take a look at free agent starting pitchers and outfielders:
Outfielders: Johnny Damon, Raul Ibanez, Ryan Ludwick, Juan Pierre, Josh Willingham, Carlos Beltran, Coco Crisp, Cody Ross, Grady Sizemore, Michael Cuddyer, David DeJesus, J.D. Drew, Kosuke Fukudome, Jason Kubel, Magglio Ordonez
Starters: Erik Bedard, Mark Buehrle, Bruce Chen, Bartolo Colon, Jeff Francis, Edwin Jackson, Hiroki Kuroda, Joel Pineiro, Javier Vazquez, C.J. Wilson
Aside from C.J. Wilson (who will cash-in big-time), none of those above players inspire much confidence and will hardly be worth the money (especially Edwin Jackson). I’d much rather give Lucas Duda a shot than sign a Ludwick/Ross/DeJesus/Kubel. And, again, besides Wilson, none of those starting pitchers are huge difference-makers. There’s no point in handing-out a $40-plus million deal to Edwin Jackson, when Jeff Francis would serve a similar purpose for a fraction of the cost. Unless the Mets can miraculously pull-off a lop-sided trade for an ace, I don’t see the point of investing in this sub-par free agency.
In regards to the Mets closer, I’d much rather give Joe Nathan, Frank Francisco, or Joel Peralta a shot than Heath Bell (who posted a super pedestrian 0.5 WAR season).
(On a side note, Capuano will not get $8-10 million from anyone. Despite his healthy season, he is still a tremendous health risk, and has shown the inability to go deep into games. More realistically, he’ll get between $3-5 million.)
ben,
i can live with nathan as a closer for one year, but his fastball dipped to 90mph this season, and high ERA, also, why not go after wilson? we can sign him and trade wright + prospects for a guy like Cain?? we can have wilson, santana, cain, niese and dickey.. that is a PRETTY DARN GOOD ROATATION… once the fences are moved, we can have decent pitching and an offense that with jose reyes at the top can be really good, as HE makes everyone around him better, we put murphy/turner at 3b, tejada at 2B and ike at first, that’s a pretty good defensive infield as well, specially up the middle..
As the sole ace-type pitcher in free agency, Wilson will get far too many years/money. It’s extremely rare long-term pitcher deals work out well.
Also, the Giants would not trade Matt Cain for David Wright (plus prospects). Cain is an ace pitcher, and Wright has proven to not be an elite hitter (and certainly not elite defensive player). Keep in mind the Giants still have Pablo Sandoval under team control, and while he might not be an “elite” player, he’s still pretty damn good (.314/.357/.553 line with a 17.8 UZR/150 at third base). Considering Sandoval’s age, contract, and defense, he’s probably a better option than Wright as of now.
Letting Francisco or Peralta fight it out could be a good option, but I’m not convinced Joe Nathan is toast quite yet. Nathan was out all of 2010 recovering from Tommy John surgery, so while his velocity dipped a bit this season, it wasn’t that dramatic (from an average of 93.6 MPH in 2009 to 92.3 MPH in 2011). The second year after TJ surgery is always more telling than the first year.
Honestly, if SF wants to up their Offense, they’ll just throw boatloads of money at Reyes.
Jose makes a lot more sense for them.
Signing Peralta, Francisco, AND Reyes is the way to go. Total budget will still be under $120 million.
I have no idea why they didn’t just sell Capuano to the Red Sox for whatever cash they were offering.
I think Minaya did something along these lines when I think the Giants wanted to trade for Sheffield for the rest of the season and he didn’t do it.
So these two non-moves confuse the hell out of me. Anyone have a valid explanation as to why they wouldn’t make these moves? Both players would have been free agents at the end of the season anyway.
The return. Sandy stole a top pitching prospect from the Giants and got out from under what would be the worst one-year contract in baseball history. Trading Capuano to the Red Sox for $31 grand doesn’t make any sense.
Sandy stole a top pitching prospect from the Giants”
here we go…….
You remember. Wheeler? The top pitching prospect? From the Giants?
I wouldnt say stole him? We gave up the team’s best hitter to get him and I think he’s batting .340 or something close to that for them. We wont know if Wheeler is a steal for years, he just repeated single A and had a 3.52 ERA/1.35 WHIP for 2011 season. Aside from a great K rate, all his other numbers may not be good enough for a promotion the double A in 2012, at least not to start the season and assuming he shows some improvement.
well, if nothing else, the Mets and Giants will both be on the golf course on Thursday, and Beltran will be a FA.
At least next year, the Mets are guaranteed to have Wheeler still.
Not sure where he starts. Could start at St. Lucie, looking for a quick promotion, or he may show enough in ST to just begin at Bingo. Not a big difference really.
Are you doubting Wheeler as a top prospect or disagree with the usage of “stole?” Either way, you’re wrong.
Wheeler has posted a 2.00 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 1.7 BB/9, 10.3 K/9, and 6.20 K/BB in 6 starts for the Mets. Going into next season, he will instantly become our #1 or #2 top organizational prospect. He, along with Matt Harvey, is a future Mets ace pitcher. Considering Sandy Alderson acquired all that for an aging rental player with an expiring contract, I would think the word “stole” is a conservative way to describe that trade.
talk to me in 2015 and THEEEEEEEEEN we can figure out whether it was a stole or not ok.. calm down ppl, we’ve been down this road before… same with nimmo, all this hoopla and hype, yet EVERYBODY was f’ing quiet when he htit 211 for the mets, calm down ok..
If he becomes a future ace down the road, it will be more than a steal. As of right now–on paper–netting a top ace prospect for a two-month rental is a steal.
This.
Obviously no one knows how any prospect will pan out.
However, he was the Giants #1 pitching prospect. Given the fact that in April many were saying we’d be lucky to get a couple of low level players for Beltran mid season, I think Alderson did a damn fine job maximizing Beltran’s good first half and prying Wheeler out of San Fran.
Minaya got Chris Carter for free agent to be Billy Wagner instead of offering arb. and getting much more valuable draft picks.Alderson got the 33rd ranked prospect in MLB for a free agent to be with no chance of offering him arb and getting 1st round picks.Minaya made a senseless trade.Alderson made a trade that quite possibly netted us a front of the rotation pitcher.Minaya would’ve either hung on to Beltran to finish 4 games under 500 instead of 8 games under or he would’ve traded Beltran for another Chris Carter.I can only imagine what Alderson may have received for Wagner had he been here at that time.At the very least we would’ve had 2 picks instead of useless Chris Carter.
You are the one that needs to calm down, everytime his named is mentioned you have a childish retort.
Anyone with an ounce of baseball sense knows this was a good deal. I know the Giants know a thing or two about pitching prospects and to land their number one was very good for this Mets organization, even if it was Alderson that did it.
satish, most likely than not, capuano will be back, if he’s cheap, that works for sandy, so he wanted to be as loyal as possible to capuano, savvy negotiations i guess.. who knows, just like when krod waved his option 24 hrs after being dealt, we’ll never know why sandy didn’t wanna trade capuano
As much as the Wilpons could use $20,000 at this point, handing the Red Sox Capuano essentially for free makes no sense. It’s not as if the Red Sox were dangling anything of value.
I’d rather hold onto Capuano (and his remaining, minimal salary) than look even more like a disgraceful franchise.
His words: “It all depends on how the Mets’ offseason shapes up. What free-agent acquisitions they make, and Johan Santana is coming back next year. A lot of that depends on the Mets.” The meanng: If the Mets hire pitchers better than me, they won’t bring me back no matter how much I want to be here. Why doesn’t anyone else see it that way?
As far as the Fred and Jeff historical words: it’s all just hype and what sounded good at the time. Not that they would ever actually do any of that because they are inveterate liars. Say some good things that the fans want to hear and sell some tickets on promise. Deliver on the promise? — nah, fuhgettabout it!
Hey mask as usual I agree with you, and putting any stock into anything the Wilpons say is foolish to say the least.
Exactly, we get an annual dose of fluff and motherhood statments from the Wilpons. All of that that is just so much feel good BS so the fans come back. They’ll never make good on any of that stuff. The Wilpons are good at talking the talk, as far as walk the walk – you can forget about that part. All hype with no meat.
I think this blog site is reaching new heights of misinformation with this interpretation of what Capuano said, and the assumption of what it means.
I agree completely with your comment. It’s pretty obvious to me what Capuano’s meaning was. The article went overboard in its interpretation and read into it what isn’t there. He was talking about his chances of the Mets bringing him back, not his requirements regarding what the Mets have to do to entice him. He’s already enticed, his question is whether he’s good enough. And that is a good question for all involved.
I totally disagree with your take on Capuano. Your title says Hits and Misses so I’m presuming it’s your intent to be a bit outlandish with your opinions here. While I completely get your take on Wilpon, I must call your spin on Capuano a miss.
Correct, we can ring up this one as a MISS as in Strike One!
Joe, lets be real here for a second. While I believe in my heart of hearts Jose Reyes will definitely be back, there is no way the Wilps are going to say “Jose Reyes will be our lead off hitter.” It’s all part of the negotiation process.
What I would lobe the Wilpons to say is “We’ve done a miserable job as custodians of this franchise, and we are looking to sell immediately.” Sadly that won’t happen either.
Yes please, Sell this instant.