So as you may have heard, the Yankees dealt Andrew Miller to Cleveland on Sunday morning. Kenny Ducey’s got the details here. With both Miller and Aroldis Chapman gone, Dellin Betances will now step into the closer role. Because he was the lone remaining truly-reliable reliever in the bullpen, the Yankees subsequently announced they had traded minor-leaguer Vincente Campos for Tyler Clippard.
Clippard, who came up with the Yankees, has long been a respected setup man, with most of his success coming with the Nationals. After a brief stint with the Mets last year, Clippard signed a two-year deal with the Diamondbacks over the winter. It hasn’t exactly gone according to plan. Clippard is allowing hits and home runs at a higher frequency this year, although his strikeout rate has spiked as well. DRA pegs him at a 3.55, which isn’t awful at all. Clippard has historically been a prominent pop-up guy, and it’s possible he could regress to that. It’s also possible that at 31, his decline is here.
Regardless, Clippard’s purpose with the Yankees is to take up innings out of the bullpen. He’s a passable setup man, especially with Chad Green and Luis Severino potentially being just as good in relief roles. Clippard was added to give Joe Girardi a second tested option in the late innings besides Betances. Girardi is known to have a definite circle of trust with his relievers, and often hesitates to go outside of that group in tight situations and in the late innings. Clippard, perhaps most importantly, instantly cuts down the number of two-inning outings that Betances will be facing going forward. Betances has already surpassed 50 innings this year, and had definite fall-offs in quality towards the ends of the past two seasons. The fewer extraneous innings that Betances has to pitch, the better.
Going the other way to Arizona is Campos, a right-handed pitching prospect. Vincente, formerly known as Jose, was acquired many moons ago in the infamous Jesus Montero – Michael Pineda trade. He’s suffered many an injury since then, including to his elbow, but has finally found sustained playing time in 2016. He had pitched all the way from High-A Tampa up to Triple-A Scranton. In total, Campos has pitched 121 innings between the three levels, putting together a 3.20 ERA. He’s struck out 105 and walked 38. Those are some pretty numbers, but Campos isn’t necessarily viewed as anything more than a back-end starter at this point, with a likely future in the bullpen because of his injury history. Campos is a lottery ticket, and a fitting return for Clippard.
Clippard is under contract for 2017 for $4.25 million. The Yankees will likely go shopping on the free agent market for relievers (closers such as Kenley Jansen, Mark Melancon and Chapman will all be available), but Clippard will be a good complimentary piece if he isn’t flipped over the winter. Given the success of Green and the return of Adam Warren, the Yankees should once again have a solid bullpen in 2017.
Photo: Kelley L. Cox / USA Today Sports