A’s strike again, acquire Tyler Clippard from Nationals
Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane is still wheelin’ and dealin’ and there’s no indication he’s anywhere near finished retooling his roster for 2015 season. As CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman suggested could happen earlier on Wednesday, Beane acquired reliever Tyler Clippard from the Washington Nationals in exchange for shortstop Yunel Escobar, whom he’d just acquired along with Ben Zobrist from the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday.
Heyman was also the first to report an agreement was in place Wednesday evening. MLB.com’s William Ladson confirmed Clippard’s involvement. It’s a one-for-one deal that marks Beane’s ninth trade with nine different teams since Nov. 23. Collectively, the trades have involved 27 different players.
The addition of Clippard should provide a huge boost to Oakland’s bullpen. The soon-to-be 30-year-old right-hander has been a stalwart in Washington’s bullpen as a set up man. Over the past five seasons, he’s posted a 2.63 ERA over 371 appearances and 393.2 innings. His 10.4 strikeouts-per-nine is excellent, and though the 40 home runs he’s allowed is a bit high, pitching at O.co Coliseum should help neutralize that problem.
With Sean Doolittle returning as A’s closer, Clippard figures to resume his set up duties. With that in mind though, Doolittle did prove vulnerable in a couple key spots down the stretch for Oakland, most notably the American League Wild Card game that ended its season. Clippard can provide some insurance on that front should Doolittle falter again or need a break.
According to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, the quick trade of Escobar also makes it clear that Beane is comfortable rolling with Marcus Semien at shortstop. Semien, 23, was acquired in the Jeff Samardzija trade at the winter meetings. He played in 85 games for the Chicago White Sox over the past two seasons, hitting .240/.293/.380 with eight homers, 35 RBIs and five stolen bases. It’s a gamble based on his lack of experience, but having Ben Zobrist around provides insurance there as well.
Escobar, 32, has spent most of his career manning shortstop, and impressively so up until the 2014 season when he tailed off defensively. At the plate, he hit .258/.324/.340 in 529 plate appearances, which is in line with recent seasons and acceptable for a middle infielder. He may actually be best suited for second base moving forward, but could serve as shortstop insurance should the Nationals find a trade partner for starter Ian Desmond.
Taking a step back, it appears there’s still a fluid situation with a lot of moving parts for both teams. The A’s, at least, seem to have filled a need in the bullpen. But there are still plenty of questions surrounding their starting rotation. For Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo, sorting out his talented infield is still a work in progress, but at least he’ll have his bases covered once that moves forward.
Neither general manager is ready to write his roster down in ink, but both are doing an effective job of moving pieces to create flexibility.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
