The saga of Matt Capps and the Twins hasn't exactly been a pleasant one. The Twins needed a reliever after Joe Nathan's 2010 injury, and the Nationals had a closer. All the Twins would need to give up was that catching prospect they had in a glass case. Well, the Twins had just locked Joe Mauer up for an epoch, so that Wilson Ramos guy was just going to collect dust ...

Capps pitched 27 quality innings for the Twins in 2010. Success! But in 2011, he was pretty mediocre for a late-inning reliever, and that's being somewhat charitable. His 4.25 ERA was higher than that of a typical setup man, and his 4.7 K/9 indicated that it wasn't exactly a fluke. And meanwhile, Ramos flourished in Washington while the Twins desperately needed a catcher who could outhit Matt Capps.

So with all that, you'd think that Minnesota would be over Capps, and that they'd move on when he became a free agent. Not at all! Jon Heyman reports that the Twins re-signed the reliever for one year plus an option. 

In theory, it wasn't just money for Capps -- the Twins gave up a prospect again, in a way. They were guaranteed to get a draft pick in the sandwich round for Capps, even if they didn't offer him arbitration. They must really, really like Matt Capps. 

Update: the contract is worth $4.75 million. $4.5 million for 2012, and then $6 million for the option, with a $250,000 buyout.