Interest in Matt Capps mounting - MLB

I feel like have devoted more time to Matt Capps in the past three days than I have to my family. He’s my white whale. Anyway, to review the bidding:

The Pirates said they would tender him a contract;

The Pirates didn’t tender him a contract;

The Pirates blamed media reports that they might non-tender Capps as the reason why they couldn’t trade him. But, you know, they did non-tender the guy, so it’s not like the media boned them or anything.

After non-tendering him, which is the universal signal for “we don’t value you” — teams start lining up to talk to Capps’ agent.

Jerry Crasnick reports that, as of today, there are 16 teams in that line, rendering the Pirates’ moves with respect to the reliever all the sillier. Dejan says that the interest in Capps is “enormous.” Especially silly: Crasnick also reports that one of the teams interested in him is . . . the Pittsburgh Pirates!

If the Pirates didn’t want him, they could have and should have traded him earlier, because there’s obviously a lot of interest in the guy. And in light of that interest, maybe the Pirates miscalculated on the whole “want” part of that equation to begin with.

Of course, now that they’re in on the guy again, who knows what motives that team.

PITTSBURGH — The New York Mets will have to dig out of an early-season hole without star first baseman Pete Alonso.

The leading home run hitter in the majors will miss three-to-four weeks with a bone bruise and a sprain in his left wrist.

The Mets placed Alonso on the 10-day injured list Friday, retroactive to June 8. Alonso was hit in the wrist by a 96 mph fastball from Charlie Morton in the first inning of a 7-5 loss to Atlanta on Wednesday.

Alonso traveled to New York for testing on Thursday. X-rays revealed no broken bones, but the Mets will be missing one of the premier power hitters in the game as they try to work their way back into contention in the NL East.

“We got better news than it could have been,” New York manager Buck Showalter said. “So we take that as a positive. It could have been worse.”

New York had lost six straight heading into a three-game series at Pittsburgh that began Friday. Mark Canha started at first for the Mets in the opener. Mark Vientos could also be an option, though Showalter said the coaching staff may have to use its “imagination” in thinking of ways to get by without Alonso.

“I’m not going to say someone has to step up and all that stuff,” Showalter said. “You’ve just got to be who you are.”

Even with Alonso in the lineup, the Mets have struggled to score consistently. New York is 16th in the majors in runs scored.

The team also said Friday that reliever Edwin Uceta had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. Uceta initially went on the IL in April with what the team called a sprained left ankle. He is expected to be out for at least an additional eight weeks.

New York recalled infielder Luis Guillorme and left-handed reliever Zach Muckenhirn from Triple-A Syracuse. The Mets sent catcher Tomás Nido to Triple-A and designated reliever Stephen Nogosek for assignment.

Nogosek is 0-1 with a 5.63 ERA in 13 games this season.