Fare thee well, Mr. Capps

Yesterday Mike Rizzo traded away Matt Capps and $500K to Minnesota for catcher Wilson Ramos and LHP Joe Testa. Now, who Joe Testa is doesn't really matter (cough:24 years old in high A ball:cough), but who Wilson Ramos is does. He was ranked the 42nd prospect in all of baseball coming into this year by Keith Law. That link may be for ESPN Insiders only, so here's a snippet of what Law said.

...when he plays he hits, and he plays a premium position at which bats like his are hard to find. ... he throws extremely well (he's nailed 43 percent of would-be base stealers in the past two years) and his receiving is adequate. ... At the plate, he has strong hands and very good hand-eye coordination, with a hard, line-drive-oriented swing

Now, Derek Norris came into this year ranked ahead of Ramos at #31, but his season so far has been nothing short of disappointing. Derek's power has vanished, but he's still getting on base at an incredible clip (.408). That really doesn't do too much to make his other numbers look good, though (.231 batting average and a .374 slugging percentage). The power loss can hopefully (PLEASE, JESUS PLEASE!) be attributed to the hamate bone surgery he had at the end of last year, as 99% of the players that have surgery there take a full year to regain their power. (Even the Non-Human Zim had his power drop. Those 14 HR in 2008? Yup, the year of his hamate surgery. His HR total the year before was 24, and went up to a career high 33 the year after).
So, Ramos goes to the #1 overall position in the Nats prospects list, and becomes the next catcher. Ramos is better defensively than Norris, as well, so that even frees the Nats up to move Derek if his bat demands he play in the big leagues.
And... Matty Capps? God love him. He throws strikes, and is so damn friendly. He will give the Twins a true closer (a position the Wookie - Jon Rauch - had been trying to fill) and a great shot to win their division. He was our All-Star rep, and leads the league in games finished (43) and is 4th in the league in saves (26). What does that mean? It means that he was due an extremely large raise after this season, and I'm not sure the Nats needed to pay it. He signed a 1 year $3.5MM contract to come here, and my guess is he'll see ~$6MM for next year after arbitration. Why pay Capps that much when we have Drew Storen here to take over the closer role next year? Drew had (and still has) this year to learn in a MLB bullpen, and will even get his feet wet with save opportunities now that Capps is gone. There is no doubt in my mind Storen will come into next year as the closer out of spring training.

Jesus. So sorry for the super duper long serious baseball talk. I had quite a few friends ask me how I felt about the deal and when I told them that I loved the trade, they asked why. So - I wrote this post. Now, let's bid a fond farewell to Matt Capps for his two greatest achievements here in DC - His fucking incredible entrance music (Europe's The Final Countdown) and his fucking incredibly awkward celebration photos. Ladies and Gentlemen... the least photogenic high-fiver of all time...

Mr. Matthew Capps.

About that Berkman "check swing"...

Why yes... I do realize I'm late on this post. Give me a break, I'm busy lazy.
So, I prolly don't have to re-hash the events of the game. You can go here or here to find out that Matt Capps had Lance Berkman (Tony!!) at a two strike count and two outs when he threw a fastball on the outside part of the plate. Berkman swung at it, and missed.

Only the third base umpire said he didn't swing. He said Lance checked his swing. Here's a gif showing the swing from three angles so you can see what the third base umpire couldn't.

Now, shit shouldn't be this hard, should it? Seems like a simple "yup, he swung" to me. But then again, what the hell do I know? Let's ask Jim Riggleman...

Hey, Jim! Jim! Don't I possess an incredible amount of baseball knowledge? Enough that you regularly call me for my sage advice?

Oh, fuck you, Jim! How are you gonna call me out like that in front of all (three) of my friends? That's cold, dude. Just for that, I'm not gonna make a sweet ass t-shirt designed with you in mind!

What's that, guys? You want to know more about sweet ass t-shirts designed with Nationals in mind? Say no more! Just head on over to this kick butt spreadshirt store and buy a bunch of each model.

In fact, a new shirt debuted today. (And, actually, is the reason for me pushing this post back a day. Didn't really seem like yesterday was the best day to pimp a closer's shirt. You know.. with the loss and all...) Yup, get ready to have your wallets "Open up and say ... Ahh!" to this sweet bitch of a shirt:



That's right, kiddos, you too can own your very own shirt based on the song Matty Capps comes out to when dominating doods! I mean, look at the font! That's used by the band!!1!! Now, THAT is paying attention to details!!111!11 I also hear there's other colors over there.

Now, c'mon... do me a favor. Buy some shirts. I have a daughter coming into this world any day now. You want her with no shoes on her feet? That's right, folks. Her shoe money come's from the shirt money. Hope you sleep well knowing that there are rusty nails and broken glass just begging to plunge themselves into an infant's tender, soft, fresh skin.

/sniff

Clippard and Capps be good.

So, yeah... Tyler Clippard and Matt Capps have become a legit combo for preserving a lead going into the eighth inning. There's even stats and shit out there to prove it, I'm just too lazy today to find them.
No, what I needed to do here is address the name of this combo. The phrase "Clip and save" has been circling 'round the intertubes (originating here?), and while it's catchy, and sorta makes sense... I think we can do better. So, without further ado, a new moniker:

C+C Save Factory

Do you remember C+C Music Factory? Of course you do! Why? Because (a) they were awesome, and (b) you were awesome. And Awesome people listen to awesome music. So, without further ado, presenting Clip and Capps.. doing their thing.

Also... feel free to throw out these zingers at the opposing team when you know C+C Save Factory are about to come into the game:

"Uh, Oh! Here comes Clippard and Capps, better open Google maps!"

Cause, you know, their hitter will be lost up at the plate and will need... yeah, never mind.

How about:

"Incoming is Clippard and Capps, you better pray they have a mental lapse!"

That one's not too hot either, eh? Okay, fuck it... just use this:

"Good luck, buddy. Hey, is that Screech in the stands fondling your wife?"

Matty Capps comes up L.A.R.G.E.

...And I'm not just talking about his head, either. Sure, he does have a giant sized cranium, but he also grabbed his first save for the Nationals last night in a pressure situation. He came into the game in the top of the ninth, nursing a one run lead. Sure, he didn't exactly breeze through the inning, giving up a lead off double then walking Ryan Howard. But he was able to get a line drive out to Nyjer (in which the tying run tagged and went to third) and a shallow fly ball out to Willie in left. He then got out number three by getting that laid back, surely marijuana smoking, hang loose kid Victorino to pop out to Goozy to end the game.

And with that, I waited with baited breath. I've written in the past how Capps takes some of the worst celebratory photos in the history of sports, and wanted his first Washington winning moment to be nothing short of oozing machismo...



....GAH!

Yup, Matty. You still got it, bro.

Tonight we go to New York to play the Mets. On the bump for us is Scott Olsen, who won a starter spo...

Wait, what?

Oh, for fucks sake, Riggleman. Glad I'll be at a bar to watch this one tonight, as I like to be in arms reach of liquor at all times with Mock on the mound. Hey, kids... want to commit suicide? Play the Garrett Mock drinking game! Take a shot for every walk he issues, every time he passes ten pitches (i.e. when his pitch count reaches 10, 20, 30, etc.), and every coaching visit, and do two shots for every wild pitch. You'll be on the floor in three innings, and dead in five. (And if anyone asks, blame it on Kevin Reiss. Hell, I stole the idea from him.)

Matt Capps is a special closer. And the Nats are looking at him.

According to a couple Twitter sources and Chico Harlan over at the Post (He's still not gone? Jesus. Dude ditched the beat eons ago and announced his leaving like a month ago...), the Nats have more than a passing interest in Matt Capps, ex-closer for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Nats have serious interest in reliever Matt Capps, formerly of the Pittsburgh Pirates. And Capps has serious interest in the Nats. Capps, non-tendered over the weekend, has attracted interest from roughly a dozen teams, but his agent, Paul Kinzer, said that the Nats are in a group of six or seven finalists.

Now, I wrote about Mr. Capps' demise back in June of 2008. He came into that game on a great run, but the Nats devastated the guy, and destroyed his will to win.

In his first 27 games, Matt Capps hadn't blown a save. When the Pirates came to town, the Nationals broke that streak by not only having him blow a save, but by getting the win that night (6/10). He then went on to blow 2 more saves in his next 3 games (6/14 and 6/15)! He's done. Pitt needs to sit him, cause he'll never be the same. He sees Nationals in his sleep.

His 2009 was... less than stellar, as he ended up 10th in saves w/27, but had an ERA of 5.80 and a WHIP of 1.656(!!). The Pirates non-tendered him last week, allowing him to become a free agent.

Now, I can spout numbers till the cows come home, but nothing I can say would do Matt Capps any justice. You see... he brings much more to a team than just saves and strikeouts (and hits. And walks). He brings with him the hopes of millions and millions of special folks all around this great country. Yes, Matt is an inspiration to all special needs people around the world, as he's a Major Leaguer now. He fought through a lot in his life with his special set of life skills, but he has persevered to be among the best in the world at what he does.

Wait... what? Capps isn't "special" you say? Well then, allow me to retort!


What's that? You're speechless? Then my work here is done.

(As an aside - Matt, if you do join the Nats, and are in the bullpen... I love you, dude! Please don't hurt me.)