Absolute steal for PTBNL or cash considerations. Considering teams before Astros were willing to give up nothing for him, I'm surprised Tucker isn't in the deal.
This is a good trade. http://m.mlb.com/news/article/140073380/guide-to-baseballs-waiver-trade-system/
He gives up a lot of home runs;. And when I say "a lot," I mean.... a lot. Puts too many men on base, too. BUT... strikeout rate is very good and lefties are posting .618 OPS against him this year. And he's been nails with the Sox (granted, 10 IP). If he can bring that to Houston, he'll be a terrific addition.
I don't mind the addition, but as it stands, Houston is likely going to have to rely on both Tyler Clippard and Luke Gregerson in a high leverage situation at some point in the playoffs. That makes me cringe.
To be fair, literally everyone the last two weeks pitched well against us. Even if you had a 5.00 era you'll look like a cy young.
If Clippard is pitching in the playoffs, it likely means starter (or an earlier reliever) had a bad game, he has changed about how he pitches that makes him good again, or Astros have 2 or less healthy starters in playoffs. It looks like a move to help rest more critical relievers, help win games down the stretch, and maybe the Astros can get him pitching well again before playoffs (I would not hold my breath about this last one). His Sox performance looks like randomness fueled by hitters not hitting homers.
He's now officially a journeyman... but the Yankees big names like Betances and Chapman have been far from lights-out lately... so Clippard being the 4th or 5th guy out of this bullpen, and being somewhat effective, is certainly not going to prevent this team from getting to where they need to get to. I'd like to go back to the problem they were having not too long ago... where they would have big leads and couldn't find anybody in the bullpen that could pitch effectively there (not Feliz, not Hoyt, not Sipp).
The Astros are going to lean *heavily* on Giles, Harris & Devo in the postseason. Not sure what the hierarchy is behind those 3 (I assume it looks something like..... Gregerson.... then Musgrove, maybe Martes.... pray for rain) - but those 3 will get the bulk of the work. I think the Clippard acquisition is essentially to give them adequate rest down the stretch. I don't think it's necessarily to make any impact in October (unless he continues here what he was doing in Chicago).
After sleeping on this, I was thinking that maybe he has something in his pitching repertoire that he can teach to the younger guys like Devenski or Martes to help them overcome mechanical obstacles they are facing. Even if Clipart is too old to execute his own pitches as well as he used to, perhaps he can show the younger guys how it ought to be done. There are different theories seeking to explain Devo's recent slump. Maybe opposing hitters have studied his "changeup of death" pitch literally *to death* and are sitting on it. Maybe he's getting rusty after not getting so many innings in since the ASB. Maybe he's thinking about leaving baseball to join a monastery in Belgium. Probably only Devo, Strom, and Hinch really have much of a clue what his problem is. But whatever it is, maybe Clipart is a guy who can show Devenski a way to get back on the winning track.
Right. Clippard is not on this roster to protect a one-run lead in the 9th inning of Game 7. He's on the roster to take some innings away from Sipp/Guduan/Feliz/etc.
I'm hoping Hinch uses Clipart in away games more than home games because he tends to give up a lot of fly balls to LF against RHB. With the Crawford boxes, his HR/9 rate is likely to be even higher in MMP than at the ChiSox park. And it's already way too high (1.36 this year; was 1.43 last year and Zips/Steamer projections suggest he is likely to continue giving up dingers at about this rate).
If by chance his Sox performance was fueled by deep dish pizza, let's get him a prepaid dining card at Gino's East or Barry's, his choice.
Sure is refreshing to see folks happy about something again That is of course until he takes the mound and gives up a run
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/many-of-the-ways-that-tyler-clippard-is-unusual/ Here's a good explanation why peripherals might undersell Clippard's performance over his entire career. The gist of it: extreme high FB thrower = lots of infield flyballs = super low career BABIP (.236) = WAR and FIP predict worse than what he's actually doing. I agree that that short porch in left in MMP is a concern, but I'm sure Hinch will take that into account when sending him out there on a matchup basis (I.e. No plate appearances against extreme RHB pull hitters when at MMP)
