It's not the most prestigious of news sources, but MLBTraderumors.com tends to be pretty good with their information, and they're reporting that the Yankees have traded Tyler Clippard to the Nationals for reliever Jonathan Albaladejo. If it's true, which is a big if, it makes no sense to me. The Yankee farm system is filled with hard-throwing righthanders, and I can't find anything that makes Albaladejo seem better than Ross Ohlendorf, Chris Britton or Jose Veras. Granted, they'd only be trading another one of their many righthanded pitching prospect, but Clippard's success as a starter makes him significantly more valuable. I'll try and stay on top of this story and see if things start to make sense.
Update 1:06AM: The Washington Post has picked up the story as well, with no new information that would explain the Yankees would do this. I understand trading Clippard for a reliever; the Yankees need bullpen help and have pitching prospects to spare. What I don't understand is trading for a right-handed reliever with only 14.1 innings of major league success, and 24 innings in Triple-A. Considering that Clippard could very well make it into the Nationals' rotation, you'd think Brian Cashman could at least have found a lefty, or someone with
more of a track record.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Clippard Sailing Away
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Clippard had potential as a possible third starter, but more likely a fourth starter with the Yankees. Following his time in the Majors, he definitely showed signs that he wasn't quite ready for the nitty gritty of the Majors.
His debut start against the Mets was by far the most dominant start he had. Beyond that, he didn't have any real impressive performances.
I can definitely say from his reactions when he got back to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre locker room, you could see the frustration from his time in the Majors. I personally think, and I get this from talking to him, that he simply just wasn't quite ready to be up there.
He should perform better at the Major League level in the National League, but I'm not totally convinced this is a bad trade by any means. The Yankees weren't going to have spot for Clippard soon, unless they have another season like last year injury wise.
What "success as a starter" did Clippard really have this year? A strong debut against the Mets and then an endless succession of 3-1 counts and hard line drives. Followed by a poor last few months in the minors that saw him sink to AA ball.
Fact is Clippard was likely hopelessly blocked in the Yankees organization by the likes of Wang, Hughes, Chamberlain, Kennedy, Horne, Marquez, heck maybe even by Chase Wright. Albaladejo may duplicate some of the skill set of some of their other young righty relievers, but bullpen is more of a "need" area than the rotation right now, I don't have a problem with adding another candidate there.
Post a Comment