Capps is Out!!!

Matt Capps and Phil Dumatrait were not offered contracts by the deadline, and are now officially free agents. The Pirates now have an open competition for the closer spot. The Pirates had been saying that Capps was still their man. But apparently that is not the case.

Zack Duke was offered a contract, and so now negotiations to avoid aribitration will begin. I believe that can go until January sometime.

I have to say that overall I don't mind this. It does put us in a little bit of a tight spot, but the bullpen last year was a mess and Capps was not very good and Dumatrait was awful and has been injury prone. The Pirates now officially have no lefty in the pen, but do have Justin Thomas in the minors. It opens up two more spots on the 40 man roster and hopefully the Pirates will be able to sign a bullpen guy. Right now I guess the bullpen has perhaps two spots sewn up. The other five are up in the air. Spring Training could be a lot of fun to watch.