When the Yankees made the trade for Tyler Clippard I was confused, mad, and happy to see a former Yankee farm hen come back to New York.
I was originally confused considering that we had just sold off our best players I couldn’t understand what the reason for making the trade was.
Then, as I looked into the trade I became very irritated when I found that the Yankees had to give up Vicente Campos in order to acquire Clippard.
I would be lying to you though if I told you that there wasn’t a part of me that was happy. Whether it was I still thought the Yankees had a chance to compete and make the playoffs this season, or whether it was just that a Yankee farm hen was returning I was happy.
No one could have ever predicted how dominant Tyler Clippard would be with the New York Yankees. Since joining the Yankees he has posted a minuscule 0.53ERA over 17 innings, allowing just 10 hits and 18 strike outs.
The options that the Yankees have with Tyler Clippard are endless. They have a chance to build a super bullpen again next season. Especially if they were to decide they should bring back Aroldis Chapman.
The Yankees also have other options. They also have options depending on what happens next season. They bought very low on Clippard and were able to flip him around. Being that he is a free agent at the end of the next season that could make him expendable in the Yankee pen. The Yankees could look at possibly signing him to a small extension as well.
Regardless of what the Yankees decide to do with Clippard. The trade has been a brilliant move by Cashman, and a wonderful job by the coaching staff by straightening him out. The Yankees now have flexibility to do a lot of things which is something that Cashman and company have not had a lot of in the past. Clippard has been a savior to the Yankee 2016 season to this point, and he is flourishing in his role back with his team that he broke into the bigs with.