Twins get Matt Capps for Ramos

[CodyDawg]

How do you know that Nats are the only team that would sign him? Do you know all of the offers he had or didnt have?

I think the twins upgraded 2 positions with this trade. I think they upgraded the closer position somewhat....Rauch was just plain scary lately. Then Rauch in a setup role upgrades that position as well. the Twins have a good record with bringing in pitchers so i am gonna give theme the benefit of the doubt on this one.

I dont know this as fact, but I just dont think there were any good moves out there for a SP. It is easy to say that is what we need and should have done, but it just doesnt work that way in reality.

[Big Tom]

I'm kind of on the fence on this one. Starting Pitcher was clearly the need. I'm glad we didn't give up the kitty for Lee or Oswalt though. 3 months for our best prospects or $16M a year next season aren't good options.

The Twins have seen the need for a good closer all the way back to Reardon. Nathan is too iffy for next year, so this addresses that somewhat. A deeper relieving corps allows for an early hook when Crapburn, Slowly or Faker don't have it.

Beyond Ramos first couple games up, I'm not really sure he's all that. Morales hit much better in his time here last season and was a good pitch hitting option.

[jwmiller33]

i cant argue with you guys on the fact that this trade made our bullpen better. it did! i will admit that. but, its not like rauch was losing tons of games for us. rauch is 21 for 25 in save opps this year (84%) while capps is 26 for 30 (86%). factor in the difference in the AL and NL and they are converting about the same perccentage of saves. in my opinion, a closer converting 84% of saves in the AL central is doing better than a closer converting 86% of saves in the NL east. but we are just splitting hairs here. i wonder who we will be moving off our 25 man roster as a result of adding capps... anyone know?

nonetheless, our bullpen is much better because of this. however, i still think our rotation is going to be our achilles heel come crunch time. it doesn't matter how good your bullpen is if your starting pitcher hands them a 5 run deficit.

and yes, sometimes GMs don't make the best decisions.. look at what the phillies just did this year. they acquired cliff lee around this time last year for their playoff run. then the phillies go and trade for roy halladay this offseason. they had to give up some prospects in order to get halladay in that deal. the phillies GM was worried about the hit his franchise took in that trade by having to send those prospects away to get halladay, so as a result, he traded cliff lee away to the mariners to "re stock" on prospects. his reasoning was, lee only had 1 yr left on contract and they didnt think they would be able to resign him. so instead of losing him to free agency, he "cashed in" on lee for prospects.

now, flash forward to this year, the phillies are again, in the same position as they were last year, looking to acquire a playoff caliber SP to make that run into the playoffs. what do they do? they send more high level prospects to houston to get ROY OSWALT....

moral of this story is, what the phillies GM didnt really make sense. i'm not saying i know everything that happened behind the scenes, i just know as much as the average fan can find out on baseball websites. i do however love analyzing these trades from all aspects of the game, and the phillies front office is getting a lot of second guessing from hardcore phillies fans because they could have kept cliff lee and instead they have roy oswalt.

i feel like everybody thinks the twins front office knows exactly what to do and they never make mistakes... look at some of their past free agent signings and trades from the past and how did they turn out?

ramon ortiz

sidney ponson

trading johan santana for carlos gomez, phillip humber, mulvey and guerra.

boof bonser,

basically GIVING craig breslow away by optioning him down to the minors for sean henn!?

adam everett

craig monroe

livan hernandez

rondell white

jeff cirillo

just to name a few... so those of you who think bill smith and the higher ups in the twins organization never make mistakes, well just look at our track record. we have a history or making not so favorable trades and free agent signings.

[Z-520]

A history of making sub par moves with a subpar budget. As a GM no one expects you to be perfect but with what Bill Smith has had to work with how can you question his moves. I'm not saying he's perfect but come on, It's not like he's had a ton of money to throw around to free agents.

[zepman]

Capps has got to feel great about his move to the Twins...he's actually pitching with something on the line now.

[SledNeck]

Capps has serious intimidation factor

[jwmiller33]

Capps has serious intimidation factor

and the tattooed, 6'11 Rauch didnt?

[solbes]

I was at the game last night; he got a pretty good ovation from the crowd on entering the field. Still singing "The Final Coundown" in my head.

[Duffman]

"The Final Coundown"

Oh gawd, now I don't like him. And I was just about to give him some praise.

[genegodawa]

For those of us drooling over SP's, when you can't get them, you need good ones in the BPen.

[jwmiller33]

For those of us drooling over SP's, when you can't get them, you need good ones in the BPen.

why? so they can mop up the game when were losing by 5 runs?

[Z-520]

If your bullpen blows a game what chance do you have to come back? If your starting pitcher has a rough start at least you got a couple of innings to try and come back.

[Coach1310]

First off.... I think the biggest reason folks don't like the move is because it was REPORTED that they weren't willing to part with Ramos to make the Cliff Lee deal. NO ONE knows exactly what was offered or asked for in regards to the Twins and Mariners.... Smoak from the Rangers was a much better prospect than Ramos, especially when he is barely above .200 in AAA. I'm sure they pushed hard, but weren't willing to mortgage the future. We are still built relatively well for the next 2-3 years.

Secondly, just because it is believed that Capps wasn't offered by anyone by the Nats, doesn't mean he wasn't and it doesn't mean he won't become a good closer. Johan Santana and Joakim Soria were both attained in the Rule 5 draft from their prospective clubs because their clubs didn't think they were worth protecting and those guys turned out pretty well....

Thirdly.... after one night of seeing Capps, his fastball definitely looks a lot better than anyone elses in the pen. 94-96 with some movement.... It makes the pen deeper and will allow some starters to only go 5 if need be.

None of our starters are that bad that they can't keep us in it and with our lineup right now, a mediocre start is enough to get it done a lot of nights.

[genegodawa]

You are right as usual JWM, so I guess the BP won't matter unless you also have enough offensive firepower to overcome that 5 run deficit.

Now if you don't have the SP or the firepower you are like me...a Cub fan.

[DonBo]

Now if you don't have the SP or the firepower you are like me...a Cub fan.

[Jarrod32]

Good comments, Coach. I thought the Twins had offered a package - including Ramos - to the Mariners for Cliff Lee. Wasn't enough. Look at what the M's got for Lee (Justin Smoak), and then the package of prospects the Phils gave up to get Oswalt. Starting pitching was/is a lot more expensive than what Ramos would bring. And I don't think the Twins were willing to package Ramos and Hicks/Revere together in a deal.

[jwmiller33]

nice job tonight capps... everyone on here was right... you are a godsend and the savior of our bullpen

[PierBridge]

Actually he is and the trade for him was probably better than one for a starter.

Nice try on blaming Capps for Delmontys little league play in the 9th.

[jwmiller33]

so capps IS a godsend and the savior of our bullpen? your startin to sound like the person in your avitar. i didnt see the game nor delmons play your talking about, but i did see he blew a save.

[Mudcutter]

true,, Capps blew the save. But he didn't implode,, like so many closers do once the game is tied. He buckled down and got the Twins into extra innings which is all you've got once the lead is gone. I found it odd that Tatoo boy didn't replace Guerrier in the bottom of the 13th???

[DonBo]

true,, Capps blew the save. But he didn't implode,, like so many closers do once the game is tied. He buckled down and got the Twins into extra innings which is all you've got once the lead is gone. I found it odd that Tatoo boy didn't replace Guerrier in the bottom of the 13th???

Rauch was in his hotel room watching the game with some sort of allergic reaction.

[B. Amish]

delmon gave up that run in the 9th not capps. total and complete misplay. bad jump, bad route, and bad execution of a sliding catch.

[harvey lee]

One cannot catch them all. Delmon has had a few plays that maybe he should have made but his bat has made up for close to all of them.

The Twins will have these plays just like any other team. There is not one team that does not make mistakes and the Twins are one of the best in regards to errors.

In regards to Capps, no one is perfect.

[Harmonica Bear]

I thought he kept his cool as well after the missed play in left field. Even though missed plays are part of the game, I bet he was steaming.

I thought I heard tattoo boy wasn't even in the stadium, sick or something.

[dfv87]

Rausch had an allergic reaction prior to the game and went back to the hotel???

He was unavailable.

CApps gets credit for the blown save but Delmon not making the catch in left Field was a cause. That being said, closers get credit for saves when guys make great plays and so they get credit for blowing saves the same way. I still Like Capps over Rausch closing games.