I've done a lot of soul-searching with my weight and what kind of shape I'm in. I mean, I'm a big guy. I'm never going to be 205 pounds. But I don't need to be 265 either. If I'm between 245 and 250 I think that's when I'm at my best, just looking back over the last few years. I'm also the person, I can step on the scale today and be 252 and tomorrow be 243. My weight jumps up and down real quick, and I don't know what the cause is. But I try not to put too much emphasis on weight. A lot of it goes on how I feel. I've had two pretty rough years in my career, one in 2004 and one last year. And the one common denominator in those two years is that I came into camp in unbelievable shape.
over 2 years ago
Vlad
31 comments
0 recs |
Email
PrintComments
Some other interesting stuff in there, too.
Including nice words about past support from Pirates fans.
Not even DK tried to peddle that one. He admitted Capps came with his weight above where PBC brass wanted him – DK just kept saying there was no evidence it hurt his pitching. It was 2008 that Capps came into camp in “good” shape. But when you’re eating all that pizza, the memory suffers.
Last year Capps was so big he effected tides when he pitched.
There are no scientific studies that prove eating pizza in large quantities negatively impacts short, or long term memory.
;-)
by Nutting Hostage on Jan 7, 2010 8:40 AM EST up reply actions
So
He pitches better when he’s fatter is what he’s saying?
Yep, in denial
My weight jumps up and down real quick, and I don’t know what the cause is.
You know who says stuff like this? Broads. You know what it is, Matt? It’s water weight. Yeah, I’m sure everything’s cool with your diet.
Inconceivable!
All in all a classy a job by the Mad Capper. He’s a bit delusional about the Nats chances this year (or he’s just saying the right things out of the baseball book of cliches).
I liked the follow up as well.
Q: So what do you make of that?
Like I said, if I’m moving around well, I don’t get tired covering first base and going through baseball activities — there’s not a magic number for me or a body fat percentage. Look at Babe Ruth, David Wells; some guys perform better when they are heavier.
Good grief
I might get a little winded climbing several flights of ssteps, but I’m 52. “if … I don’t get tired covering first base”? Heaven help you you should have to run 60 feet.
Also: Babe Ruth got fat later in life but for years he was in terrific shape. He was a hell of a pitcher before he became a hell of a hitter, and even when he packed on the pounds he was still a hitter. He was the greatest athlete in the game. You, Matt Capps, are no Babe Ruth.
Correcting myself
For a few years at the start of his career, Babe Ruth was not the best athlete in baseball. Jim Thorpe was. But Jim Thorpe was a mediocre baseball player, and Babe Ruth was Babe Ruth. He might have been a slightly lesser athlete but he was a hella better baseball player.
It's a cop-out
he’s trying to make excuses for being out of shape more than one time in his career, and then using the fact that he was in shape last year as a crutch. He wants to make people think it doesn’t make a difference because he can still be in shape and have a bad year.
Truth is, no matter what his weight is, over his career he has continued to give up too many fly balls and not strike out enough batters. It’ll be funny to see how he does in that park in D.C.
"Straight ball I hit very much, but curveball, bats are afraid." - Pedro Cerrano
Watching the bowl game last night,
I thought I recognized Matt Capps in the cast for the new season of Biggest Loser.
And I second what bucdaddy says about Babe Ruth. My grandfather told me about watching The Babe many times in person and how much of an athlete he was throughout many years of his career.
Saying that Babe Ruth was never an athlete and was always some fat, slow guy because you only know him from one famous reel of late-career highlights would be the equivalent of saying John Elway as a slowass, unathletic QB just because you saw him barely able to hobble into the endzone in a Super Bowl at the end of his career.
The Truth
I went to spring training last year and was there on the reporting day. At the time is was written that Capps had lost weight and was slimmer than we knew him, and that in fact was the truth. He was noticeably thinner when I saw him at camp open.
I think for him it’s the kind of thing that “hey, it didn’t work, so I’m going back the way I was before” more than anything else. That and other things he said last year (I’m throwing the change because I got to try something) seems like desparation to me.
Along a similar line, do you guys remember a few years ago, 06 I believe, when Jack Wilson bulked up and decided he needed to hit for more power, then spent most of the season on the DL?
Jack
One of the problematic things with Jack’s career has been the weird circumstances – he had his breakout offensive season in ‘04, then had the burst appendix, from which he obviously never recovered in ’05. Then, as noted, he bulked up for ’06; he didn’t get hurt (he was never on the DL before ‘08), but his range suffered and, other than 5 HR in April, it didn’t help his hitting. In ’07, he more or less returned to his ’04 form, with a 103 OPS+. Then the freak spiking that never healed in ’08.
Now, obviously, 2 seasons of 100+ OPS+ against 6 seasons of 73-82 OPS+ suggest that his real talent level is more like 80 than 100, but it’s tantalizing – without the stupid appendix, does he have a 4 year run averaging ~100 OPS+? As it was, he averaged 92 during that stretch, which is pretty good for an excellent defensive SS.
Sadly, he’s reached an age where his health problems are becoming chronic. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him throw up another year of ~100 OPS+, but I also wouldn’t be surprised to see him never play 140 games again.
Incidentally
To get the chronology right I ended up at this page, which is written incredibly tendentiously by someone who obviously dislikes Jack – frex, it never even mentions his OPS+ in 2007, but instead talks about his 6 outstanding weeks around August in order to emphasize that he’s really a bad hitter who just got lucky for a few weeks. I won’t bother citing all the crappy examples, but it’s quite annoying.
Often wondered about Jack's 2004....
I like Jack and think many Pirate fans and probably the PBC itself underestimate the value of the good glove at short that Jack provided.
But, I must admit I have often wondered if that one big standalone offensive year in 2004 may have been the result of any kind of pharmaceutical boost?
by Nutting Hostage on Jan 7, 2010 8:43 AM EST up reply actions
I hate, hate, hate...
…seeing people accuse players of PED use without evidence. Particularly when the logic is centered on the player in question having had one unexpectedly good season. Players have been having fluke seasons since the earliest days of the game.
What’s the logic here? Did Jack get scared because he was hitting well, and immediately stop taking drugs?
You know...
I’ve often wondered about Willie Stargell’s Comeback Player of the Year season.
Plus, Nate McLouth hit awfully well the first 2 months of 2008, didn’t he? Coincidence?
I agree with you...
to a point. I think given the wide spread involvement of players using during the steroid era has left a lot of doubt in people’s minds. I would not go out and accuse any one player of using but I have to admit that I was suspicous of players who were:
a) skinny their entire career than muscular as Rocky Balboa the next season (guys like Brett Boone, Steve Finley, Luis Gonzales and Bonds are a few that come to mind),
b) never hit more than single digit HR’s their entire career then have breakout monster seasons seemingly out of nowhere…or consistenly hit more homeruns than what they had previously established as the norm in early their career (guys like Steve Finley, Ken Caminitti fall into the 1st explanation and guys like Chuck Knoblauch and Brett Boone fall into the 2nd).
I know I’m not presenting the most scientific argument and I’m not accusing any of these players of using steroids. However when I relect upon their careers I am suspicious that PED’s did not play a role. That being said I don’t believe this to be the case with Jack because he doesn’t fall into either of the categories I admittedly pulled out of my butt. I don’t fault people for being suspicious of players and I believe the fault lies with the players union, the owners, the commissioner as well as the players for the uncertainty people will have evaluating how truly great some of the players were during this era. And this is a shame because were able to witness some truly amazing things happen.
This was all a very long way of saying that I don’t think Jack was ever a user but I don’t blame people for being suspicous of players who have career years (during the steroid era anyway).
The problem with focusing on home-run hitters...
…is that PEDs provide just as much benefit for little fast guys, or pitchers, or backup catchers. Everybody likes to focus on the sluggers, but Manny Alexander and Alex Sanchez and Luis Ugueto and Humberto Cota and Tim Laker were all pinched for PEDs, just like Bonds and Ramirez and Giambi. Those guys didn’t have any kind of unexplained power spike, or display unusual physical growth, but they were users just the same.
If it’s genuinely a moral issue, rather than just an attempt to tear down a select few successful-but-unpopular-with-the-media players *cough*BONDS*cough* then those small-time users are worthy of the same amount of attention. They’ll never get it, though, because the entire anti-steroid campaign was just a way for columnists to sell papers and settle a few scores.
All good points.
I’m curious to see how Hall of Fame selections will be affected by PED use. It will make for some good debate. I for one think they should be inducted but their plaques should detail PED use if they in fact had been found to have been users. It will be very interesting to see what will happen with Bonds given that a) he has never admitted to “knowingly using” and b) he has not been found to be a user (drug testing, court of law, etc.). I fully expect him to be blackballed since he has never been a media darling to begin with.
In the end,
it’s fitting that Matt Capps signed with the Nationals.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Bucs Dugout
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
Baseball Nation Recent Stories
In Association With
Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
- Baltimore’s tradition of fans shouting ‘O!’ during national anthem sparks interleague feud
- Chris Perez follows rant against Cleveland fans with even better rant against Cleveland fans
- Pitcher Clayton Richard gets key pinch single in 13th after coming in 0 for 16
- Livan Hernandez welcomes ball boy to the bigs with shower of sunflower seeds (VIDEO)
- Man beaten by four others in Dodger Stadium parking lot
