AUGUST 25: Clippard has cleared waivers and refused an outright assignment, according to a team announcement. As expected, he’ll return to the open market in search of a new opportunity.
AUGUST 23: The Nationals are designating reliever Tyler Clippard for assignment, tweets Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post. The move frees an active roster spot for Erick Fedde, who is back from the 15-day injured list. The club also swapped out backup catchers, recalling Riley Adams from Triple-A Rochester while optioning Tres Barrera. Washington’s 40-man roster tally drops to 39.
A two-time All-Star, Clippard has been a durable and effective reliever for the bulk of his 16-year big league career. He spent an extended chunk of that run in the nation’s capital, pitching with the Nats between 2008-14 before bouncing throughout the league. The changeup specialist remained productive through 2020, but he’s had some injury woes over the past couple years. He lost a good chunk of last season with the Diamondbacks due to a capsule sprain. Clippard returned late in the year and posted a solid 3.20 ERA over 25 1/3 innings, but his peripherals weren’t especially impressive.
The 37-year-old returned to Washington on a minor league deal over the winter. He impressed with Rochester, posting a 2.23 ERA with an excellent 31.5% strikeout percentage through 40 1/3 frames. That earned him another big league call last month, but he quickly suffered a groin strain that sent him to the injured list. Clippard returned a couple weeks ago, but the Nats moved on after just four MLB appearances. He tossed five innings of four-run ball with four strikeouts and walks apiece, averaging a career-low 87.5 MPH on his fastball.
Washington will place the veteran on waivers in the next few days. If he goes unclaimed, Clippard would have the right to elect free agency and look for another opportunity elsewhere. If he lands with a new organization by September 1 — either via waiver claim or new free agent deal upon clearing waivers — he’d be eligible for postseason play this season.
Farhan Zaidi on Line 1.
Why? Giants aren’t even close to the playoffs smh
and neither should clippard be, at this point in his career
Playoffs or not, Zaidi seems hell bent on gobbling up(and then DFAing two weeks later) every player available lately.
Exactly my thought.
That’s a bummer :(, I’ve always liked him and the way he approaches the game. Like he once said, “if you’re not getting better, you’ll find yourself out of the game.”
Sixteen years in the bigs is a long time.
Look at where Clippard ranks in innings pitched:
baseball-reference.com/leaders/IP_active.shtml
Clippard is #3 on the active list for games pitched at 807
And for 10 different teams plus some return trips.
nice!
Nice.
Are his peripherals ever good. Seems like a guy who pitches beyond his peripherals. Someone will give him another shot. Every time I think he’s done, he rises back up.
dodgers
Mets could also use him. Anything to speed up the DFA of Trevor May.
No thanks. I’ll never forgive this guy for his performance in the 2015 playoffs.
Well he’s not apologizing to you so I don’t think he cares about your lack of forgiveness.
They wouldn’t have even gotten to the playoffs without him.
Yankees have like 8 RPs on roster that are hurt or rehabbing. Might be worth giving him a shot. Velo has definitely been trending down for awhile, but he was never a hurler anyways.
They’ve been there. He was awful and cringey to watch in 2017. I’ve never seen a pitcher so lost.
He seems toast at this point in his career. But Yankees should pick him up for time being til their bp gets healthy
Also like to add Phillies as a landing spot as well with 2 guys going oin the dl in their bp. Long shot the dodgers… they seem to always have in house answers but at same time pluck projects and squeeze to get higher productivity out of them then their previous teams
He can’t be worse than Trevor May
John Mozalok is getting a woody right now
Mo just got wood
Bummer. Always really liked him and was happy that the Nats had re-signed him. Hopefully this gives a chance to catch on somewhere else though.
He looks like the guy from your high school who got a job at the local bowling alley and 20 years later he’s still spraying shoes and slinging nachos and pitchers of high life
I thought he was on the tail of his career when he was with the Mets. Glad he’s been able to go this long
there is a movement encouraging people to turn off their lights at night so the migrating birds don’t fly into windows. I will not be participating this year.
Angels
At 37 he stayed at AAA for 26 games.. 3.20 era for a team he once closed for. Somebody give this guy a job that’s a player