Twins Overpay for Matt Capps

I guess I can’t find a source that says it’s official yet, but I’ll go with it

edit: official now, per everybody.

Tonight Bill Smith took his biggest trade chip, arguably the best catching prospect in the minor leagues (and I mean true catching prospect, Yankees fans) and turned him into a reliever with one more year of arbitration left.

Let’s read that again: the 58th best prospect in the game according to Baseball America, a guy who is a lock to stay behind the plate, is going for a reliever who had a 4.90 FIP last year.

I haven’t been as high on Ramos as many Twins fans, as he definitely has some plate discipline problems, but to trade him for a reliever, really any reliever, is silly. And it’s even more silly to do so for a reliever who was DFAed last year.

Let’s look at some numbers side by side:

Pitcher A and pitcher B are pretty much identical (all are career numbers).

Pitcher A is the newly acquired Capps. Pitcher B? Current closer Jon Rauch. Bill Smith has traded for virtually identical pitchers the last two deadlines. One cost Kevin Mulvey, one cost Wilson Ramos. It appears Smith is regressing.