On Sunday, Buster Olney of ESPN reported that Mets starter Chris Capuano cleared waivers and could be traded to any team. Actually, I was kind of surprised Capuano wasn’t traded before the non-waiver deadline, especially when they already decided to end any chance at competing for the wild card when they traded Carlos Beltran. (Ask R.A. Dickey and Jose Reyes about that, they’ll tell you.)
Capuano’s numbers are very pedestrian at best, 9-11, 4.58 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. If somebody wanted Cappy, I would have traded him in a heartbeat and called up minor leaguer Chris Schwinden from Buffalo – who I’m sure would have performed just as pedestrian with a good chance he would have been much better.
I’m thinking that Capuano won’t last the rest of this week before he’s gone, mostly due to the performance bonuses in his contract. Capuano has already started to earn those performance bonuses and the money the Mets will owe him continues to rise with every start.
Capuano was originally guaranteed $1.5 million, plus the following incentives:
$125,000 for 15 games started
$150,000 for 20 games started
$75,000 for each game started from 21 through 31
$100,000 for 32 games started
Capuano has already started 23 games which puts his current bonus at $375,000 already in the bank. That number grows by $75,000 with every start. He should easily make another seven starts between now and the end of the season which would add up to another $525,000 dollars in bonus money.
Additionally, he gets another bonus based on innings pitched:
$50,000 for 90 innings pitched
$100,000 for 100 innings pitched
$100,000 for 110 innings pitched
$100,000 for 120 innings pitched
$100,000 for 130 innings pitched
$125,000 for 140 innings pitched
$175,000 for 150 innings pitched
$175,000 for 160 innings pitched
$200,000 for 170 innings pitched
$200,000 for 180 innings pitched
$225,000 for 190 innings pitched
$250,000 for 200 innings pitched
His 139 innings pitched thus far, has netted him an extra $100,000 dollars, but his next inning pitched will cost the Mets $25 grand, and then another $25K for nine innings after that.
All told, that $1.5 million guaranteed salary could end up costing the Mets close to $3.25 million when all is said and done, and for a franchise that has been in cut and slash mode for most of this season, I don’t see Capuano lasting out the rest of this week.
Gimme a cappy and provolone hero with lettuce, tomatoes and roasted peppers to go…
