Brewers sign John Halama, Capuano to minor league deals

[mrbergmann]

What's the consensus on this deal? Low-risk, high-reward? Does he factor more into the rotation or a possible bullpen guy?

 

Brewers sign Halama

[Hate those Rodents]

I'd prefer him to Burns or Suppan fwiw. I am guessing he's used as either a AAA starter unless we run into tons of injuries in camp, or as a long reliever out of the pen.

[Invader3K]

It's a minor league deal, so it's basically a no brainer for the Brewers. Hopefully he can break through and be productive. Everyone knows the Brewers need as much SP help as they can get right now.

[Ennder]

We signed Capuano again too so that makes 2 SP. Melvin is probably done.

[Invader3K]

Yes, Cappy on another minor league deal as well. I'm not going to hold out hope he's even in the majors next year.

[rluzinski]

He'll be 38 next year and hasn't done anything noteworthy for years. Just filler.

[And That]

This was mentioned first in the minor league forum and I don't mean to steal Mass Haas' thunder, but Capuano was also signed to a minor league deal.

[Funketown]

Good, now I can stop worrying about which two starters Melvin was going to sign.

 

Seriously though, I really hope Capuano can come back to the majors and contribute something. He's just a guy you want to see do well. I would think he would have somewhat of a long shot to make some sort of appearance this year.

[paul253]

Sadly this pretty much tops the "depth" he acquired last season in Chase Wright and Nic Green. I do like Capuano though. I think he can still be a productive MLB pitcher.

[TheCrew07]

Cappy is likely done as a SP, he lost a ton of velocity on his FB, he was down around 80 MPH in Helena. Hes a great guy who hopefully can have a BP role down the road. Halama is another soft tosser... minor league deals are basically a no brainer but if either guy sees time in the rotation we're in trouble.

[billyjohnston77]

Doesn't Capuano still have an active streak for the Brewers where they have lost in 20+ straight games he has pitched in?

[monty57]

TheCrew07, isn't it kind of normal for a player on their first year back from TJ to lose velocity, which they get back after about a year? I'm definitely no expert on this, but Cappy was only a high-80's guy before the surgery, so it wouldn't be too hard to believe he could get back there.

They do add needed depth, plus it may help some of the young guys at AAA to have a couple of guys with some major league success in the rotation with them.

[brewmann04]

Hopefully we can add some hard throwers to the Rotation this offseason.

[TheFyl]

Yup, there is our two new pitchers. Job well done. Gallardo, Bush, Parra, Capuano, and Halama. don't for get Suppan. haha, oh boy the laughter can hardly be contained. lets still keep looking for more arms shall we

[Invader3K]

Hopefully we can add some hard throwers to the Rotation this offseason.

Not to pick on you specifically, brewmann, but I'm sure that's what everyone wants. It almost seems like some people here really think Melvin is actively looking for soft tossing vets. I really doubt that is the case. There isn't that much out there on the free agent market in guys that have overly dominant stuff.

 

Plus it's worth pointing out that Gallardo and Parra are both closer to the "flame thrower" category than "soft tosser." I woudln't call Dave Bush necessarily a soft tosser, and Chris Narveson also has a pretty good fastball, IIRC. I think people have become jaded due to Looper and Suppan.

[pingman]

It's now or never of Capuano.....

 

....worst case scenario has Capuano & Halama stealing opportunities for legit prospects that need the AAA innings, then they have no chance of helping the Brewers

[bork]

....worst case scenario has Capuano & Halama stealing opportunities for legit prospects that need the AAA innings, then they have no chance of helping the Brewers

 

The Brewers don't really have any legit pitching prospects ready for AAA next year. They'll all be at AA and below.

[joepepsi]

Don't you think Josh Butler will be at AAA in 2010?

[paul253]

I don't know if he's considered a legitimate prospect anymore, but Mike Jones should be at AAA next season too. He struggled there last season but remember he started the season in Brevard County and really got pushed quickly, so I expect he should do better.

[yoshii8]

I like the Halama signing, and am glad that Capuano is back. I never give up on a guy like Cappy that works as hard as he does, I'm really hoping he can add some velocity and contribute to the Brewers next season.

 

On the Brewers.com article about the signing, it mentions Halama is 4-2 w/ a 1.64 ERA and only 3 bb's in 44 innings so far in the Dominican Winter League. Hopefully he can be another suprise veteran like Burba and Helling next season.

[bork]

Don't you think Josh Butler will be at AAA in 2010?

 

I forgot about Butler. But asside from Butler and a few interesting bullpen guys, the AAA pitching staff is looking to be mainly AAAA players again. So it's not like these signings will be taking away innings from prospects.

[MarquesJohnson2000]

Doug is on WAUK right now and it sounded like the Halama deal is not official yet (Needles asked him if the two deals were official and Doug responded "Capuano is.")

[Tbadder]

Bodies, bodies, bodies--some losing warmth, some already stone cold. Pretty soon Melvin's going to have him the last nine yards of a World War I battlefield.

[yoshii8]

Doug is on WAUK right now and it sounded like the Halama deal is not official yet (Needles asked him if the two deals were official and Doug responded "Capuano is.")

What else did he say, would you mind giving a little recap?

[MarquesJohnson2000]

I didn't hear much of it; presumably it will be posted at the website [espnmilwaukee.com] eventually. In what I did hear, there was some discussion of possibly trading for a Braves pitcher, more talk about pitchers batting eighth (batting order up to Macha but all the math says you'll score 30 more runs with the pitcher batting eighth), talk about Kendall (such a gamer, he wanted to play every day even though the club thought he might be better off with more rest), and more "If Rickie could stay healthy and get 500-600 at bats he'd be awesome" talk.