10:50am: The Diamondbacks have announced the trade — a one-for-one swap of Clippard and Campos.
10:19am: The D-backs are receiving right-hander Vicente Campos from the Yankees in the trade, reports MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert (via Twitter).
9:29am: The Yankees have reached a deal to acquire right-hander Tyler Clippard from the D-backs, reports FanRag’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). The Clippard acquisition signals that in spite of this morning’s stunning trade of Andrew Miller to Cleveland, the Yankees aren’t waving a white flag on the 2016 season just yet. Joel Sherman of the New York Post was first to report that the Yankees were looking for veteran bullpen help even after moving Miller (Twitter link).
[Related: Updated Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Yankees Depth Charts]
Clippard, 31, is in his first season with the D-backs after signing a two-year, $12.25MM contract, so the Yankees will control him for this season and next. He’s pitched to a 4.30 ERA this season, averaging 11.0 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9 in 37 2/3 innings with Arizona. Clippard is an extreme fly-ball pitcher (though he did reduce his fly-ball rate to a career-low 45.9 percent in 2016), which unsurprisingly didn’t mesh well with Arizona’s homer-happy stadium. The seven homers already allowed by Clippard in 2016 are just four shy of his career-high 11, and and his 1.7 HR/9 and 17.1 percent homer-to-flyball ratio are both the highest of his career. In that sense, shifting to Yankee Stadium and its short right-field porch might continue to cause problems for Clippard.
However, Clippard has a long track record of success, having pitched to a 2.68 ERA with 10.1 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 524 1/3 innings from 2009-15. There were some red flags in his 2015 campaign — namely his K/BB ratios going in the wrong direction and his velocity dipping — but Clippard’s track record made him appealing to a number of clubs this winter and likely to the Yankees in this instance. It presumably helped that the Yankee front office is already familiar with Clippard, having originally drafted him back in 2003 before trading him to the Nationals several years later.
In Campos, the D-backs will receive a 24-year-old righty that reached Triple-A for the first time this season and is in the midst of a strong overall year. Campos, originally acquired by the Yankees in the Michael Pineda/Jesus Montero swap, has a 3.20 ERA with 7.8 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 in 121 innings across three levels this season. MLB.com ranked him 14th among Yankees farmhands on their midseason update of the team’s farm system, noting that he has three potentially above-average offerings but also serious concerns about his durability. The 121 innings Campos has thrown already represent a career-high, and it’s possible that he could head to the bullpen eventually if he cannot prove capable of handling a full workload in the rotation. He has mid-rotation upside but could end up as a power arm in the bullpen when all is said and done.
I’m a Yankees fan and I don’t see a point for this trade
This is probably a buy low sell high situation. You hope Clippard can turn it around with the yanks and maybe flip him next year. I mean look at the haul the Yankees got this year. Granted, Clippard isn’t Miller or Chapman but if he turns it around plenty of teams will come sniffing around next July. Or who knows maybe they package him with someone else this year.
They’ll come and shiff like dogs.
After which they’ll pee all over us.
I do. The Yankees are close enough to contention that it was worth a solid, reasonably priced rental, yet far enough that it made sense to cash in big time on two top relievers.
Nope. Trading Chapman means you are punting on the season. End of story. But Clippard isn’t a rental so I’m guessing the Yankees see him as part of their plans for 2017.
Yankees never really rebuild, they reload, next year they will have Chapman, Betances, and Clippard at the end of the game. That’s top notch, that’s the point of the trade.
When was Clippard top notch?
He had some pretty good seasons in Washington, but it’s highly unlikely he repeats those numbers at YS.
Wonder who the Yankees gave up. Is Clippard a FA after this year?
No he has 1 more year, probably why they did it so they have someone for next year.
He’s on year 1 of 2 year deal
Are the yanks stupid why can’t we just sell like a normal team
Well said….best line of the day!
Good pick up
World Series
hahaha, thanks for that laugh. im hungover and needed it
If they want to win ws they would have not trade their closer and middle man lol
Sarcasm meter broken?
Why you gotta do me like that Cashman
What are they doing??
I just don’t get the moves we are making chapman Miller makes so much sense but why trade for clippard
Not sure what we gave up yet, but if it’s minimal, why not? The yanks are rebuilding and trying to stay competitive at the same time.
Hahaha you idiot. There is no “rebuilding and trying to stay competitive at the same time.” When you rebuild, you have to commit to rebuilding, plain and simple.
Clippard has one more year under contract so my guess is the Yankees see him as a nice buy low piece that they can trade for something better a year from now.
Buy low.
4.30 e.r.a. That raises a flag. A red and a white one
Lol.
Clippard has a very high BABIP and LD% that seems to be caused by bad luck games. He’s notorious for being consistent then falling off a cliff every 9-10 appearances, and this year he’s fallen harder than usual, which has lead to his mediocre stats.
If we subtract his two sad appearances before he was traded, his ERA would’ve been a 2.8 and he would’ve given up 5 homeruns in 37 innings (which is still high).
I believe Yanks believe the guy is sustainable, but I am surprised that they felt they had no long-term solution with Campos, who has been very valuable at keeping balls in the yard. That could be a good quality in the rotation or bullpen in that division. Maybe he doesn’t have the same stuff he once did and the Yankees preferred some stability in the event they may take a run. I don’t see this being as bad of a trade as people make it out to be.
Guess they haven’t totally thrown in the towel yet. I have to say, as a Yankee fan, I’m going to miss Miller. He’s a great talent and a class act, but for the first time in a long time, I’m excited about the direction of this team. Hopefully some of these prospects pan out.
Make no mistake. Trading away Chapman IS throwing in the towel on this season. I do think the Yankees want to contend in 2017 tho.
I’m so confused
Hopefully this is part of a McCann trade but otherwise this is why getting prospects doesn’t help.
You can’t build with prospects if you insist on blocking them with old players.
As you stated though, getting prospects would help if you didn’t block them with old players. I don’t understand acquiring Clippard at all.
It has to be part of a salary dump.
McCann would be a really good fit in Arizona. Maybe include Nova and a little cash plus taking Clip.
DBacks have Castillo and Herrmann doing a fine job behind the plate. McCann is completely unnecessary and they couldn’t afford him anyways unless NY ate most of the contract
Clippard is eating about 8 mil for one. They could also include some cash and or prospects in the final deal.
I don’t think their catchers are doing so well if the pitchers all suck so bad.
This doesn’t make any sense. You just traded Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman for a slew of prospects. Taking on Tyler Clippard for over $6 million next year serves what purpose?
Got prospects for the other two. And what’s $6 mil for the Yankees?
Is this supposed to be a reason?
What’s 6 mil?
It’s enough to buy a bunch of international free agents.
It’s money that could be included to get better prospects in trades.
It’s money that can be used include with a big contract you want to move.
You don’t trade prospects for players you don’t need just because you got prospects and saved money in another deal. There is no salary floor in baseball.
Warren, Betances and Cippard >>>>> Betances Miller and Chapman. Homegrown is always better!!
I can’t tell if this is a joke, but I’m thinking it’s a joke. I also hope it’s a joke.
I can’t tell if this is a joke, but I’m thinking it’s a joke. I also hope it’s a joke.
I can’t tell if this is a joke, but I’m thinking it’s a joke. I also hope it’s a joke.
I can’t tell if I made joke, but everyone thinking it’s a joke. It’s not a joke.
You weren’t joking?!?! Holy cow.
joke, right?
This seems like a poor use of $6 million.
They might be taking on his contract with the D backs sending over prospects as compensation similar to what they did with the Braves and Bronson Arroyo last season.
I doubt he costs more than a bag of baseballs being a FA and having a bad year. If so, not a bad trade. He’s just bullpen filler after trading away Miller and Chapman.
It makes sense. Since most likely Betances will be the closer they need a set up man and Clippard has had success in the past with that role. They probably didn’t give up much for him so it’s an chance they can take with what they have been doing lately
This could set up a Beltran/Nova, Beltran/Eovaldi, Beltran/Clippard package deal?
It doesn’t say for who, but my guess is its for Ivan Nova. Nova is basically owned pennies for the remainder of the season and a free agent after the season. For the D-Backs, they would save about $7mm. This is my guess.
And it doesn’t take away from the Chapman or Miller trades, as those were for top end prospects. They really have little to do with another other than the fact that there is an opening or two in the bullpen and this is just $, that is, if my Nova suggestion is correct.
Rules out my Nova suggestion. Campos once looked promising and was the 2nd part of the Pineda/Montero trade. After surgery, he really took several steps back. Hasn’t been pitching badly as of late. Not such a terrible deal for the D-Backs.
Absolutely terrible deal if it’s just the two
Why bring back a guy we already had and traded
Odd. Maybe they traded for him just for the nickname. ‘Yankee Clippard’.
Yankees are the baseball version of American pickers. Poor Arizona probably got hosed again. lol
Salary dump, Stewart probably included Alex Young in the trade for the offset. LOL.
Couple of things:
1. Clippard was first brought by the Yankees.
2. I don’t understand this move at all. A fly ball pitcher heading to one of the most hitter-friendly parks in baseball sounds like a recipe for disaster.
*he was first brought up by the Yankees
The comments on here are so perplexing, I can’t pick just one to reply to.
Who is he blocking? He is a reliever..teams carry 7 releivers..it’s not like there are a dozen relievers the Yanks are itching to bring up..there is always room for a quality reliever on a staff, whatever your stage of rebuild/contention.
Presumably they paid next to nothing for him, we all know the type of trades the Dbacks make, sell as low as possible..
He isn’t old, he’s not 38 or something, he’s 31 and signed for one more year. This is a team that wants to win this year and next. He makes perfect sense for them.
The only issue is how homer prone he is and coming to Yankee Stadium. The ERA isn’t a huge deal, the K rate is nice.
Assuming they didn’t give up much, this is a nice buy-low move. This is a guy that many people thought would command something like 4/$24m this offseason. They jusy got him for 1.3/$8m. Great pickup. The only thing I have a problem with is that they didn’t sign him in the offseason when his price/years dropped. He probably didn’t want to come to a team with so many better relievers, tough to build up his value that way.
People bothered by the Yankees taking on a $6m salary for next year…I don’t use internet acronyms much but seriously smh…
They’re paying him 6 mil next year to relieve during a supposed rebuilding year after which he’ll be gone. They need to be developing players if they are going to rebuild not carrying guys on the roster for the last year or two of their careers.
There is absolutely zero reason to sign clippard for 6 mil next year. Making the argument that he doesn’t block anyone is ridiculous because if they are going to rebuild they better have someone he would be blocking. It also shows you know nothing about the Yankees farm. It’s incredibly deep with relief pitchers.
Who said the Yankees rebuild? The Yankees will never publicly say they are rebuilding because they know fans will jump off the bandwagon. You do in fact need some veterans on a team, no matter what you’re doing. You definetly need veterans if the team is rebuilding because you want those veteran guys to guide the younger ones.
I don’t need them to tell me what they are doing to recognize it.
Do you trade Chapman and Miller for prospects if you aren’t rebuilding? come on.
Do you think Clippard is the only veteran next year? Does he somehow get you to an important minimum number of veterans?
I agree the comments are stupid. This is getting a piece to finish out the year with a veteran. plus I bet they trade an outfielder from minors to give some space for some pieces coming in. They have stockpiled a bunch of the same type player in the minors.
Thank you! The comments to this point made little sense.
FLY BALL pitcher in YANKEE STADIUM oh NO
Castro the Yankees gave up
Yankees are the American pickers, and Arizona is the fools…see how this turns out
Another solid signing by Dave Stew
More trade fodder for a dead roster.
At first glance the move seems crazy, but he’s a MLB ready arm…they don’t have much of anything ready now….he could be a piece in a trade this winter too.
I think it’s a great pickup to replace Andrew Miller
(Ps: Yankees should not have traded Miller
Yankees leading the way again…. Selling for the future and staying competitive at the same time
Competitive for 4th in ALE.
Yankees traded Vicente Campos
Campos was nothing. Clippard is going to prove he is one of the best homegrown Yankee relievers.
He didn’t do good till he left the Yankees…I don’t consider josh Donaldson a homegrown Cubs player
From a business stand point, I understand what Yankee management is doing. From a fans stand point, all I can say is that I really miss George!!!!
Cashman and the Yankees front office are completely incompetent.
Auctioning off a couple of the games best relief pitchers is a no brainer anyone could pull off.
Blocking all your prospects with old overpaid,underperforming players is not only stupid but it keeps you from seeing results from the trades you make.
If Hal and Cash think Clippard and Warren are going to help this team compete this year they need serious help before they hurt themselves.
You need to understand that the Yankees can’t just cut every player when they become old and nonproductive, the Yankees knew they were buying about 3-5 good years and 1-3 bad ones. If Clippard is what you mean by blocking a player I’d have to call you stupid since with so many relievers on an MLB roster how could he possibly be blocking anyone that won’t put up the same numbers as him. Come the offseason the Yankees can sign Jansen, Chapman, and or Melancon, (it could happen you never know), and Clippard all of a sudden goes from below average setup man to an a stud of a middle reliever.
Vicente campos went to dbacks for clippard
Braves would deal Eric O’Flaherty and Jim Johnson to the Yankees in a deal for Brian McCann and Chase Headley. Yankees would send Brian McCann and Chase Headley to the Braves along with cash for 50% of their salaries for LHP Kolby Allard, MLB # 60 Prospect and Braves #1 Draft choice in 2015, along with Lucas Hebert, Catcher and Braves #19 prospect and the two veteran relief pitchers.
Lol
After Cashman’s terrific trades of Chapman and Miller, some of these comments are moronic. Campos was never going to be a major contributor to the Yankees. This trade is like many others. Meh.
If it was anyone else in the world playing GM for a day do you think they would have made worse trades?
Anyone can hold a week long auction for a prime asset and take the highest rated return.
When did the best way to spend 8 million dollars become a old guy in the middle of the pen for one year during a rebuild? Why do you pick up the old guy when you are supposed to be auditioning young guys for the alleged rebuild?
Campos has been great this year and is in AAA. He also cost nothing and could have easily worked out of the pen with the exact same production guarantee you get from Clippard.
They aren’t trying to fully rebuild. I don’t know if anyone else had noticed, but they aren’t dealing everything. Just relief pitchers. Clippard is a great move. Buy low, they need a reliever now anyways, and if he turns it around, you have another rental next year at the deadline where you will most certainly get more than you gave. They’re trying to stay competitive while rebuilding. I really like this move for them.
Buy low doesn’t mean trading a prospect for an overpaid old relief pitcher who has bombed out this year.
Buy low means paying a little not paying an oversized contract and including a prospect. This is just english and requires no baseball comprehension.
No one is going to give us what we gave let alone replace any of the money spent to basically just block the prospects we should be developing.
They aren’t rebuilding? Only to those people who don’t understand what rebuilding means.
Jeez man you’re acting as if they traded Sanchez or Judge or somethings. Campos did not even make the Yankees top Twenty prospect list PRE-SEASON. With all these additions he probably wouldn’t even be Top 30.
Why would you cap “pre season”?
Campos struggled coming back from injury and this was the first year he had his fast ball back into the mid 90’s and it allowed him to go from A ball to AAA during the season.
It doesn’t matter how good of a prospect he was before the season. It matters how good he is now. you know, when they actually traded him.
It also matters
1. because of the money
2. because of the age
3. because we need starters more than relievers
I’m not terribly invested in Campos. I’m invested in watching young players on the rise and I’m tired of watching old guys finishing out their careers. I just wish Hal cared as much about winning as he cares about money.
Great move by Cashman again, loved Clippard with the Nats, and that bugs bunny change!
if they contend next year, he’s a guy with closer experience. If he bounces back and the yankees are still middle of the pack then he’s trade bait. why are you people so dumb?
Exactly my thoughts.
Dumb is thinking Clippard is a trade candidate next year.
Miller and Chapman were the very best at their positions in the game. Clippard is a very average pitcher who has never been a difference maker.
He might be tradable if we pay his salary but thinking we get something of value back is a complete fantasy.
Well he was a trade candidate this year , so maybe he will be next year. Are you suddenly predicting what his stats will look like from April – July 31, 2017??
Yes.
Only in the Yankees universe do old players get better every year.
I know it’s not 100% that the sun will come up on any given day but in the real world players who are older and not playing very well any more don’t turn around and carry the team.
Clippard simply hasn’t been good for years unless he was in a gigantic park and even then hasn’t been that good for some time.
Even if he does regain some of his youthful ability he’ll already be getting paid as though he’s pretty good so he will have zero positive value. He wasn’t a trade candidate this year. He was a salary dump that the Yankees were dumb enough to actually pay for. They were too stupid to realize that an elite reliever selling for top dollar doesn’t mean a middling reliever is worth anything. I’m guessing Cashman ran out of the crack that came with the Vernon Wells trade and needed to get an under the table supply that he could bill to the front office.
The biggest part of the sin is that the teams problem right now is the front office’s inability to trust young players to develop because they are so afraid people might get mad at them if they are wrong. We get to see retirement tours and old players earning every last dime on their contracts regardless of how bad the team is and how much it costs to get old guys with recognizable names to play instead of seeing if the prospects can develop into solid major league players. Players like Gardner and Cano would never have been developed by this front office.
It’s a complete clusterf**k of incompetence and cowardice that’s led us to expensive crappy teams that aren’t worth watching unless you get a thrill out of watching players who used to be famous.
The best I can guess is that NYY get a pitcher with MLB experience.
Was Campos ready to move up?
And a short term contract
Do you guys even know what 8 million dollars is?
You obviously don’t know anything about Yankee prospects but the team is one of the cheapest teams in the league these days and wasting 8 mil on someone who will be near the bottom of the pen is a terrible investment.
Do they fill the stadium with people dumb enough to get excited about Warren and Clippard?
What do you have against clipped this is clearly a bit low move from cashman He a controlled through next year we’ll have some 80 million off the books as well he was just looking to find someone for the now barren middle relief and eat up innings and clippard can do that
I like Clippard. I was a fan when we had him in the minors. I have no problem with him playing for the team next year.
My problem is that they invested way too much money in an old player when they have to at some point start playing the prospects. We’ve been hearing for years that we’re going to build through the farm system and they’ve been investing there while investing zero dollars on free agents. Every chance they have had to give a prospect a shot they’ve refused. Now they just went out and spent a good AAA pitcher & 8 million dollars so they could get the last year of Clippards career and lock up a roster spot next year on an old player who is probably average at best.
Every time they make decisions like this it delays the teams turnaround.
First we had the Jeter retirement tour. Then we have a couple of years running out the Tex and Arod contracts. That’s 3 years where the front office is handicapping the team on the field to make sure they squeeze their idea of their moneys worth out of bad contracts signed in the distant past.
I’m tired of getting excited about prospects that they wont use and watching a team where playing time is determined by the size of your paycheck. Getting excited about kids who hit 400 in AAA only to be demoted to AA because we wouldn’t dare give them a shot in the majors. It’s like there is a genuine fear that something terrible will happen if they let a kid play for a couple of months.
Clippard should have been a salary dump and as such could have been cut if he didn’t work out. Now that we have so much invested in him he will be a core member of next years team unless his arm literally falls off his shoulder.
The acceptable part of trading the awesome bullpen is finally having enough prospects for them to consider playing time based on current instead of past merit. The Clippard trade shows they still don’t value prospects more than they value experience.
We just went a whole year without spending a dollar on free agents and now we are going to start our rebuild by spending a bunch of money on a player who wont be here for half the of the rebuild let alone when we’re good again.
The money coming off the books doesn’t impact this at all. I could care less how much money the team makes in profit. I want to watch them develop a new team and they can go free agency or develop prospects. What they can’t do is make their only expenditures be average players at the end of their careers and keep the roster full of players that make too much to cut but aren’t good enough to win. I don’t see any value in that approach.
I don’t know if you follow the minor league system but there are a lot of really good bullpen prospects for next year. The problem with prospects is that they require some time to adjust. Even when they move up a level in the minors it can take half a season for them to adjust. We’ve already seen that if there are veteran options they will not give a prospect any adjustment time.
The reasons I’ve heard to support the trade are, we’re buying low, we don’t have anyone else for the pen, we didn’t trade a great prospect, we have money coming off the books. These are not reasons to make an investment in a player. We should be acquiring players because we need them for their talent or their financial package now or at some point in the future. It should never be because they were good and might recapture their past glory when they come to Yankee Stadium.
I don’t think Clippard is a bad person or a terrible player but I know he stalls the rebuild without making any significant contribution in any way.
Can you, or anyone, tell me why the team will be better next year or any year after that as a result of Clippard? Once you ignore the good things that are happening regardless of any decision on Clippard there’s nothing.
I think you’re overreacting a bit my friend. Campos is not a huge loss for the Yankees and while $6 mil isn’t cheap for Clippard, he’s had good experience in the past. Medium risk medium reward. If he sucks they will drop him and hopefully call up someone better.
I’ll believe they walk away from 6 mil when I see it happen. I’ve watched too make Drews to believe this admin walks away from any man hours they’ve paid for to believe it.
I did realize there is a scenario where the Clippard trade makes sense though. It might not be a terrible idea but I also worry that we don’t quite understand the difference in value between a good and great play/prospect enough for me to trust we would be upgradings. Anyway, if we trade Betances I think Clippard would have value. There are about a dozen prospect options for the pen next year and if all of the big three are gone I could see Clippard as a sole vet
Maybe I’ll see if I can get some bigpapi4ever love
Moncada and Benitindi for Beltran, McCann, Nova, Judge, Mateo and Betances?
Yankees are trying to avoid giving Bentances saves because each save he collects increases his arbitration. Clippard has seniority so the Player’s Association can’t be barking at the Yankees to give Bentances the ball.
I’m not sure I get this one, but given the excellent return on the other two relievers, I’ll go with it. I would have kept the younger live arm.
Yankees were just looking for an MLB arm without giving up too much after the Miller and Chapman trades. The guys they had on the Scranton shuttle haven’t panned out this year.
Could they have picked up someone better and cheaper than Clippard? Probably. But as we’ve seen good RP’s don’t come cheap lately.
emac22 is dumber than bigpapi4ever guaranteed; yanks vs bosox rivalry on a trade blog in full effect
Pick a subject.
ANY subject
Lol. No one is dumber than bigpapi4ever. You can’t even have a convo with him he’s that dumb.
I like this trade. I think the Yankee front office finally has gotten things right Hopefully. They start bringing up their prospects for the next two years. See who pans out. And who doesn’t then have enough money to pick what you need from free agency