The Yankees have agreed to a one-year deal with lefty Chris Capuano, Jack Curry of the YES Network reports (Twitter links). Capuano receives a $5MM guarantee, per Curry. ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick tweeted this morning that Capuano was nearing a deal with an unspecified big league club.
Since his strong 2012 (198 1/3, 3.72 ERA), Capuano has been steady, if unspectacular, over the last two seasons. Last year, his age-35 campaign, he worked in a swingman capacity for the Red Sox and Yanks, posting a 4.35 earned run mark over 97 1/3 innings. He worked exclusively from the pen in Boston, and in the rotation in New York.
Capuano figures to provide some much-needed protection against injury for a New York rotation that includes question marks like Masahiro Tanaka and Michael Pineda. If he is not needed as a starter, Capuano should be able to work as a long man in the pen.
