The Yankees have re-signed lefty Chris Capuano today to a one-year deal. The team officially announced the deal this afternoon, but did not disclose the details of the contract. YES Network’s Jack Curry who broke the story reported the deal will is worth $5 million dollars. After the Yankees purchased the contract of Capuano from the Colorado Rockies in late July, he went 2-3 with a 4.25 ERA in 12 starts for the Yankees. The numbers might not jump off the page at you, but Capuano pitched a few solid outings late last year. A versatile lefty is always a good thing for the Yankees, and Capuano gives them exactly that,
The Yankees have signed LHP Chris Capuano to a one-year contract for the 2015 season.
— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) December 16, 2014
The low risk deal cements Capuano as a back-end of the rotation starter for the Yankees, as GM Brian Cashman confirmed today via Chad Jennings. “He’s coming in as one of our starters,” Cashman said in an interview with the AP. So with a rotation still full of question marks, the left-handed Capuano will at the very least be the number four or five starter. If camp started today the rotation would be Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda, CC Sabathia, Chris Capuano and Ivan Nova once he returns from Tommy John surgery in late June. As for the final spot, Cashmam also said today David Phelps, Adam Warren, Bryan Mitchell, Chase Whitley and Jose De Paula will all have a chance to compete for a spot this spring. If the Yankees are content with heading into spring training with the guys they have in-house, David Phelps probably has a leg up on the competition, but don’t count out Bryan Mitchell as real possibility. The team is very high on him and has some electric stuff.
With the free agent pitching market dwindling down the Yankees insist they are not in on Max Scherzer, but being only mid-December that tune could change at anytime. The only other big name pitcher out there is James Shields, but he has yet to be linked to the Yankees or any other team as of right now.
