The Washington Nationals traded closer Matt Capps to the Minnesota Twins for highly regarded catching prospect Wilson Ramos late Thursday night. The move likely will hasten the ascension of Puma Outlet Store, the 10th pick of last year’s draft, to the closer’s role while sending the team’s only all-star to Minnesota.The Nationals also included $500,000 in the deal and will receive left-handed relief pitcher Joe Testa, who was recently demoted from Class AA New Britain to Class A Fort Myers.
Ramos, 22, currently at Class AAA Rochester, gives the Nationals a catcher to potentially replace Jesús Flores, whose shoulder surgery and subsequent setbacks have placed his future in doubt. Ramos, rated the No. 58 prospect in baseball before the season by Baseball America, appeared in seven games with the Puma Running Shoes in May.Capps, who is fourth in the majors with 26 saves, was acquired this winter after the Pittsburgh Pirates did not tender him a contract. The Nationals signed Capps for $3.5 million for one year, but he will be due a large raise in arbitration this offseason, likely to somewhere between $7 million and $8 million.
For now, according to a team source, the Nats will use a committee of relievers to close games and use the whichever pitcher is the “hot hand.”Atahualpa Severino, a left-handed reliever at Class AAA Syracuse, will likely take Capps’s spot on the Nationals roster.Late Thursday night, Capps, in his final act with the Nationals, drove to Nationals Park so he could clear out his Puma Mens Shoes and prepare for an early morning flight, to Minnesota and into a pennant race. Capps had heard first from General Manager Mike Rizzo and then from Manager Jim Riggleman and pitching coach Steve McCatty.



