July 29, 2010
Breaking News: Twins trade Wilson Ramos to Nationals for Matt Capps
There's no official announcement yet, but I've confirmed with multiple sources that the Twins have agreed to trade Wilson Ramos to the Nationals for Matt Capps.
I'm not a fan of the move, to say the least. I'll have a full write-up shortly.
UPDATE: Twins just announced the deal as official. Joe Testa is also headed to Washington.
Looks like a good move to me. A solid set-up/closer gives us some depth. Gardy always ends up overusing Guerrier and I hold my breath when Crain is in a critical situation.
Comment by perry — July 29, 2010 @ 9:27 pm
This is a terrible move.
You need WAY more than Matt Capps if you are moving this big of a piece.
Comment by dave — July 29, 2010 @ 9:29 pm
I’m not a fan of the move either, what’s up with us & Nationals medicore closers? Should have gotten more for Ramos, I think we need a quality starter more than Capps. Relief helps was needed but not at that steep of a price.
Comment by Nick — July 29, 2010 @ 9:30 pm
Noooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Awful trade. Just when I though Billy had figured it out. Nice offseason and then this. What a dunce.
Comment by Ramos!!!!!!!!!!!!!! — July 29, 2010 @ 9:31 pm
Paying that high of a price reeks of desperation. A desperation I don’t share.
Comment by Neau Mor Washed Up Vets — July 29, 2010 @ 9:32 pm
I’m gonna be sick.
Comment by Ramos!!!!!!!!!!!!!! — July 29, 2010 @ 9:32 pm
dislike
Comment by MC — July 29, 2010 @ 9:33 pm
Major chip sent for a reliever? Terrible, terrible, terrible trade. A top 50-75 prospect for a reliever? Terrible trade. I thought BS was bad at his job before this deal. Now I’m 100% certain he and I do not agree at all on how to build a team.
Comment by mike wants wins — July 29, 2010 @ 9:33 pm
And TEsta? Does Bill Smith have any idea how to do his job (umm, like we didn’t know that after the Blackburn signing)? This is ridiculous. Brutal.
Comment by mike wants wins — July 29, 2010 @ 9:35 pm
The ineptness of the Twins is really stunning. Bravo.
Comment by Gendo — July 29, 2010 @ 9:37 pm
What the f%*$. This has got to be one of the worst trades of all time. My friend told me about the deal and I thought he was joking, I had to go online to make sure it wasn’t real…and then saw it was. Sheer ineptitude on the part of the front office.
Comment by AK — July 29, 2010 @ 9:40 pm
Really? The best trade chip for a guy who was non-tendered by the freaking Pirates after 50+ innings of 5.8 ERA. Not to mention the bullpen is not a weakness right now. The cash better be used to offset another move, you know, one that would help the team.
Comment by Andy — July 29, 2010 @ 9:43 pm
I don’t like this either. How long will we have Capps? I dunno, doesn’t even matter…
Comment by Maija — July 29, 2010 @ 9:49 pm
I’d say he’ll be DFA’d sometime in May next year why?
Comment by Gendo — July 29, 2010 @ 9:51 pm
In the first place, the bullpen was weakened when Duensing moved to a starting role. In case you hadn’t noticed, Mahay was seeing a lot more use. Also, Rausch is starting to look overmatched to me. You might not like Capps, but don’t tell me the bullpen is solid.
Comment by Dave T — July 29, 2010 @ 9:52 pm
Kaaaaaaaaahn!
Comment by Josh — July 29, 2010 @ 9:53 pm
Great post Josh, great post.
Comment by mike wants wins — July 29, 2010 @ 9:55 pm
In the second place, Ramos might have been a top-50 prospect during spring training, but he sucks now. Your beef should be “why trade him when his value is low.”. We could have gotten more for Ramos in April.
Comment by Dave T — July 29, 2010 @ 9:55 pm
Agree with the consensus here. You don’t trade a legit starting C prospect for an average relief pitcher (who’s under control for just 1 more year). Ramos should have been the centerpiece for a big trade, not for a complementary part.
Yuck.
Comment by BR — July 29, 2010 @ 9:56 pm
Of course the bullpen is weakened but it’s time to run the flag up on this season and be selling not buying. This team isn’t WS caliber. Not with this mess of a rotation.
Comment by Gendo — July 29, 2010 @ 9:57 pm
at first i didn’t like it, but Guerrier, Crain, and Rauch likely gone nest year, not toomention Nathan will need a miracle to be in good form by seasons opening. Gives us great depth this year and helps eleviate potential problems next year. By the way, is it possible that we are overvaluiing Ramos’s worth. Seattle, Houston, Cubs and other seemed uninterested maybe we here in twins territory think he is worth more than hereally is.
Comment by Brent — July 29, 2010 @ 9:59 pm
at first i didn’t like it, but Guerrier, Crain, and Rauch likely gone nest year, not toomention Nathan will need a miracle to be in good form by seasons opening. Gives us great depth this year and helps eleviate potential problems next year. By the way, is it possible that we are overvaluiing Ramos’s worth. Seattle, Houston, Cubs and other seemed uninterested maybe we here in twins territory think he is worth more than he really is.
Comment by Brent — July 29, 2010 @ 10:00 pm
Dislike
Comment by TL — July 29, 2010 @ 10:08 pm
Starting pitching. Starting pitching. Starting pitching.
Comment by Larson — July 29, 2010 @ 10:09 pm
other teams didnt value ramos enough to be a centerpiece of a major trade. I think ramos was pissed at being sent down to rochester and that affected his play. If were to have continued his poor play into next season, that wouldve further diminished his trade value. I dont mind this deal at all; a very good reliever who will close games and at 26 yrs old, should be had for years to come. We dont have a dominant reliever in our BP, not a single guy that batters say “uh oh, not him”. For this trade to pay big dividends, Capps has to be that guy for the twins.
Comment by Scott — July 29, 2010 @ 10:21 pm
The few of you who like this trade don’t realize we just traded six cheap years of potential star for 2 months of mid-rate closer on a hot streak.
Don’t even tell me he’s an all-star. All-star is a 2-3 month hot streak.
Faith busting move.
Comment by doug — July 29, 2010 @ 10:22 pm
Carlos Santana for Casey Blake, anyone?
Comment by doug — July 29, 2010 @ 10:22 pm
And WE throw in the extra piece.
Comment by doug — July 29, 2010 @ 10:24 pm
Does Capps project as a type A free agent?
Comment by Jesse — July 29, 2010 @ 10:25 pm
Even if it’s not 2 months of Capps, it’s one to several years of overpriced Capps.
I’m just going to leave it at “dislike” and spare you all the vitriol.
Comment by doug — July 29, 2010 @ 10:28 pm
Yeah, he should have brought more, but in order to get anything truly more, they’d have to package him with someone else of value, but they aren’t trading Hicks, Revere is Juan Pierre MK II, and there are no other blue chip prospects that the Twins would really give up. Everyone else in the org is just wishful thinking on Twins fans part. No team would give up an ace starter for what Twins fans would offer. Ramos has struggled to adjust at every level above low A (save his first two MLB games) and has been extremely frail most seasons. Oh, and the Twins have this guy named Mauer. If it were Mauer for Capps, I’d see the outrage. But this? Meh…
Comment by KM — July 29, 2010 @ 10:29 pm
Yeah… the extra piece is just dumb… do we get a PTBNL? Seriouselly
Comment by MC — July 29, 2010 @ 10:31 pm
Lilly for Ramos would have made more sense.
Comment by Jesse — July 29, 2010 @ 10:31 pm
I thought we were giving up Jose Morales. Damn it. This trading thing is confusing.
Comment by Bill Smith — July 29, 2010 @ 10:34 pm
Terrible.
Comment by Brooklynegg — July 29, 2010 @ 10:38 pm
Young catchers with power potential and a strong arm are in short supply. We overpayed for Capps. Having said that, Mauer blocking Ramos’ path actually diminished Ramos’ value. I’m sure Seattle wasn’t enthralled with a Ramos ++ for Cliff Lee deal.
Would’ve rather gone after a guy with “A” stuff like Soria if we addressed the bull pen. I wanted the Twins to get a starter, and was hoping Fausto Carmona would be the guy.
Comment by JR Cigar — July 29, 2010 @ 10:49 pm
I’m so angry I can’t sleep.
WTF Bill Smith. Why are people such suckers for the “save” stat. The guy got DFA’d by the Pirates and gives up homers by the bushel. Not to mention he is laughably overpaid.
Reading the Strib comments is pretty embarrassing. You don’t give up a piece like this for a mediocre reliever! You just don’t. Oh, and we gave them Aaron’s number 40 prospect as well.
I’m thinking Sam Cassell and a number one for Marko Jaric right about now.
Comment by dave — July 29, 2010 @ 10:52 pm
I have been trying to figure out how this is not a David Khan-esqe move and I just can’t come up with anything. I have to assume that they tried to make better trades (Lee, Oswalt, etc.) and there just wasn’t that much interest in Ramos. Why they had to trade him at all, I don’t know. Maybe they thought the value would only go down from here since there is nowhere for Ramos to go at the major league level with the Twins.
Rauch makes me pretty nervous now and I don’t think I could even watch him in the playoffs. It does make our bullpen better, and maybe now we can send Blackburn to AAA. Even so, ugh. This looks like Bagwell for Larry Anderson.
Comment by Pedro Munoz — July 29, 2010 @ 10:53 pm
I think Twins fans do tend to overvalue our own prospect guys. Remember AG wringing his hands about the Twins “throw in” Eduardo Morlan in the Matt Garza deal?
Comment by JR Cigar — July 29, 2010 @ 10:57 pm
Yeah, gotta agree on the Strib. Somehow, only 7 percent of poll respondents rated the trade as terrible. Most respondents picked “My parents are siblings.”
Comment by doug — July 29, 2010 @ 10:57 pm
I understand the angst, but I do think people are overvaluing Ramos. He ain’t the next Carlos Santana. We’ll see. Capps is at least young, and outside of ’08, he’s pitched well.
This deal really makes me wonder if they’ve lost faith in Rauch. And if they have, you do have to wonder if Capps is much of an improvement…
Comment by Neil — July 29, 2010 @ 11:01 pm
Capps is going to be a free agent after the season and make more than the 3.5M he currently makes. Ramos is a potential star who will play FOUR YEARS before he earns what Capps earned in just this season.
I’d much rather have four years of “we’ll see” if Ramos is the next Carlos Santana instead of overpaying for Capps this winter.
Comment by doug — July 29, 2010 @ 11:06 pm
Whoops, sorry, Capps is a FA after 2011. Still, he’ll make $5-6M next year in arbitration, which is still overpaying for a reliever with a 3.48 career ERA.
Alright, I’m really just going to leave it at “dislike” this time or else I’ll be up all night.
Comment by doug — July 29, 2010 @ 11:10 pm
power RHP? Okay, i just hope capps can strike out guys that jesse crain otherwise couldnt.
Comment by yefrem — July 29, 2010 @ 11:13 pm
Maybe it’s not about the money. But even if it is, Capps is arb.eligible in 2011, so he’s under control for another year. But forget about the $$$s. Ramos felt he should have been in the majors this season. He’ll probably be in the Nationals lineup soon, if not immediately. From what I saw of his callup games he’s going to K plenty until he gets his balance against off-speed stuff, and Butera is a better behind-the-plate catcher. So. How much is a guy who can’t hit yet and isn’t even Drew Butera behind the plate really worth? Apparently, Ramos and a lefty are worth a semi-established closer. Who has to be better than Rauch in that role. If the Twins bullpen is a strength, moving Rauch back into a setup role and lessening reliance on Mahay is a good thing. Blackburn down, Perkins up, and you have a nice balanced bullpen with a real closer. Assuming the starters have truly righted the ship, the bullpen is better, the team is better. Less chits in the minors, maybe, but the parent team is stronger. My only concern at this point.
Comment by Snortwood — July 29, 2010 @ 11:25 pm
I find it hard to believe that we couldn’t get more for Ramos, but I am going to take some deep breaths and remind myself that this trade makes the Twins better in 2010 and 2011.
Comment by Stuart — July 29, 2010 @ 11:36 pm
we should ve traded for Kerry Wood..:):):)
The future is now..and Ramos had never a real future in Minneapolis…..also i hoped for a starter….Ramos at the moment not really can hit even in the minors……..
Comment by chris — July 30, 2010 @ 12:15 am
Ramos was obviously over-valued since he couldn’t net the Twins Cliff Lee or Dan Haren. I am really glad that they sent Ramos and not Angel Morales, Joe Benson, Ben Revere or Dave Bromberg. Those prospects actually have value to the Twins. Also, give Capps a chance since he is arguably the best reliever the Twins have on their roster.
Comment by Nick — July 30, 2010 @ 12:26 am
“Also, give Capps a chance since he is arguably the best reliever the Twins have on their roster.”
plus his middle name is Dicus..it’s true
Comment by Pat — July 30, 2010 @ 12:55 am
If you want to keep Capps’ 2011 salary down then make him the setup guy instead of the closer. Every save makes that arbitration number go UP, because we all know that the 9th inning is three times as valuable as the 8th…
Comment by DrJubal — July 30, 2010 @ 12:57 am