Cap eligible or not if earlier Approved H1B Revoked on same year before Oct 1st.

Hi, in 2016 my employer filed for my H!B, june 2016 H1B approved and for some reason they reopened the case on July 2016 and my employer sent a withdraw notice and thus H1b was revoked by sept 14 2016 which is before OCT 1st 2016. meanwhile i got my STEM OPT approved.

Now, in 2018 my employer is saying they can’t apply for my H!B

“Associate’s petition was revoked by USCIS and we cannot process H1B not subject to CAP if associate not utilized this petition”.My question is can they apply for my H1b Tranfer or not under change of status. if not can they apply for consular processing.Thanks,Paturi