Trade Central: Clippard Returns To Yankees

THE DEAL

The Yankees followed up their blockbuster trade of Andrew Miller on Sunday by reacquiring righthanded reliever Tyler Clippard from the Diamondbacks in exchange for minor league righthander Vicente Campos.

Clippard was drafted in the ninth round by the Yankees in 2003 and made his major league debut with them in 2007. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said in a conference call with reporters that the two-time All-Star’s acquisition “softens the blow” of losing Miller, and came at the cost of mid-level pitcher in the Yankees’ revamped farm system.

DIAMONDBACKS ACQUIRE
Vicente Campos, rhp
Age: 24

The 6-foot-3, 230-pound Venezuelan starter entered the season ranked the Yankees No. 20 prospect before breaking through this year, jumping from high Class A to Triple-A and ranking among the organization leaders in strikeouts. Originally a Mariners international signee who came to New York in the Michael Pineda-Jesus Montero trade in 2012, Campos uses a low-90s fastball with a curveball and changeup that have both been described as average. He controls all of his pitches well (2.4 walks-per-nine rate in his career) and doesn’t give up many longballs (0.5 home runs allowed per-nine), helping his stuff play better than his radar gun readings might indicate.

Club (League)	Class	W	L	ERA	G	GS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (International)	AAA	0	0	1.80	1	1	5	8	1	1	0	1	1
Trenton (Eastern)	AA	5	1	3.02	9	9	56.2	45	19	19	1	14	48
Tampa (Florida State)	HiA	4	2	3.49	10	10	59.1	50	24	23	3	23	56

YANKEES ACQUIRE
Tyler Clippard, rhp
Age: 31

The two-time All-Star has now been traded three times in the last 18 months, including in a deadline deal last season. Clippard has slipped a bit from his prime, posting a career-worst 4.30 ERA and 1.301 WHIP with Arizona this season while giving up a career-high 1.7 home runs-per-nine. While no longer the dominant relief ace he once was, Clippard is a still a proven major leaguer who slots into a Yankees bullpen in need of reinforcements after trading Miller and Aroldis Chapman in the last week.