Dejan Kovacevic just linked to a Q&A former Pirates closer Matt Capps did with Washington Post beat writer Chico Harlan.  There’s several references to Pirates players, management, etc and I think its worth a read to any Pirates fan, even if you don’t care a lick about the Nationals or Matt Capps.  The most interesting part ot me though, and what DK calls out, is Capps response to the differences between Pittsburgh and Washington:

Q: You obviously dealt with your share of losing in Pittsburgh, and here all of a sudden you’re with a team that’s lost 205 games in the last two seasons. But what, if anything, makes this situation in Washington different from the one you left?

That’s a tough question. You know, that’ll be hard to answer until I get there and see how things come together. I think the biggest difference I’ve seen so far is ownership’s devotion to winning and financially getting the pieces they need. But as far as everything else, I only know what I’ve heard. Ask me again at the end of March.

I’m not entirely sure what to make of this.  You can see it as a shot at Pirates’ management for not tendering him a contract, for trading Bay, McLouth, et al, for going the thrifty route and not bringing in free agents.  You could also see it as an off handed comment, as Matt Capps being supportive of his new team and his excitement to be in a new situation.  I’m not quite sure where I fall on it yet, and its more than likely that once I’ve had time to really digest it, my opinion will end up being somewhere in the middle, so I’m certainly not going to rip Capps for saying it.

There is however, one thing I find very interesting about Capps line of thinking.  Capps cites the Nationals signings this off season as one of the reasons he chose Washington.  According to Capps, “First off came the opportunity to win, and I really believe in what they’ve done there. I think the opportunity to win is going to be sooner than later.”  Keep in mind, this is the same team that lost 103 games in 2009.  The Nationals biggest moves this off season have been the additions of Capps (1 ys @ $3.5MM), Pudge Rodriguez (2 yrs @ $6MM), and Jason Marquis (2 yrs @ $15MM).  Using last year’s numbers, these players combined for a WAR of 4.2.  (You can make the case that Capps 2009 was an outlier and he’s likely to bounce back, to say a 1 win player.  The problem with that line of thinking is that you can make that argument in reverse for Marquis’ 2009, and that he will likely regress to be slightly below a 2 win player in 2010.  Either way, the numbers come out to a WAR somewhere between 3.5 and 4.5.)  Essentially, the Nats have payed $14MM for 4.2 wins, or $3.3MM per win.  This is actually a pretty good win value per dollar.  The problem is that they’ve only added, at best, a handful of wins.  It logically follows then, that at best, they will go from 103 losses, to say 98 losses.  This is not a team on the verge of winning anytime soon.

In other news, the Pirates have signed a bunch of guys to minor league contracts with spring training invites.

Also, I’m working on the a ridiculously long post over-viewing the top prospects in the Pirates system.  Look for part one of that to come tomorrow and part 2 a few days later.