So, for the rest of the winter, whenever you see a Met fan jabbing a pillow with an ice pick, whispering "Clippard, Clippard, Clippard.." they're just chanting mantra and bestowing happiness upon the cosmos. And we - as miserable, ugly, hunch-back Yank fans - must gently try to remind them that everyone is a winner... including Tyler Clippard.
Surely, Met fans will forgive Clippard for walking two Royals in the 8th last night, opening the floodgates for the three-run rally that sank the World Series. And my guess is that Clippard will be gone within a month - having left the same way he came in, as death to the Mets.
I remember Clippard's introduction in the 2007 mid-season Subway Series. He came up from Scranton, pitched six innings, gave up a run, and belted a key double. I loved the kid. We called him "The Yankee Clippard." Clearly, it was his destiny to pitch for the Yankees.
But - as we know - Clippard was not one of "The Big Three:" Ian Kennedy, Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain. He was just a lowly over-achiever, a precursor to David Phelps and Adam Warren. We had a star studded rotation: Roger Clemens, Kai Igawa, Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte and Chien-Ming Wang. We certainly had no room for an over-achiever. Therefore, Brian Cashman dealt him.
We traded Clippard straight-up for Jonathan Albaladejo, a relief pitcher that some scout said was throwing hard in a Latin winter league. And I'm sure he was. Alba threw hard in spring training, threw hard in April, threw hard in May... with only one problem. He didn't throw as hard as he was being hit. The balls went out harder than they came in. And then, poof, Alba was gone.
Meanwhile, in Washington, Clippard created a statistical category - a "Clippard" being a game when he came in to get the win. One season, he won 11 games out of the bullpen. He twice made the All-Star game. He twice made the top 10 in games pitched. After nine years, Clippard's career ERA is 2.88. And we traded him, straight-up, on a whim.
I don't mean to rip Cashman again. Hey, bad trades happen. But over the years, this one always struck me as particularly unnecessary - a case of "churning" for the sake of churning. Somewhere, Cashman must have had a binder that rated Clippard as a 3.72 prospect - and Alba as a 3.73. So he traded up. It was such a minor deal that I still don't understand it. We traded a young RH pitcher that we knew for a young RH pitcher that we didn't know. It was a trade based on some unnamed scout, whose opinion clearly differed with that of the Nationals.
I've always felt the Clippard deal belied the two Yankee problems of the last 10 years:
1. Hubris, the view that we're smarter than everybody else.
2. A blind spot to the value of our own prospects.
I'm still not sure we're over it. Look how late this season we finally gave Rob Refsnyder a chance to play 2B. The fact is, if not for Stephen Drew's dizzy spells, Ref would have never gotten a look. Again and again, the Yankees seem to not value their own prospects - (although, I must say, it was refreshing this summer to see them promote Greg Bird and Luis Severino, and refuse to empty the system for a rental.) Are we finally turning the corner? I honestly don't know.
But I do know this: Last night, Tyler Clippard messed up, and the truth about Met fans is that they'll scream about him until they day they die. They'll want him waterboarded, boiled in oil and sent to Gitmo. They'll say they're not the vengeful type. But here's the plan: Whenever you see a Met fan, mention Tyler Clippard, and let's see what happens. Because everybody knows they're not like us.
WOW....THIS POST WAS SO SPOT ON, IT ALMOST CALMED MY INNER YANKEE "NO REAL POST SEASON" RAGE....HAHAHA, ARTS AND CRAFTS TONY ROMO..FUNNY STUFF....#2 ON THAT LIST) 'NOT VALUING OUR OWN PROSPECTS' IS SO ON THE BUTTON. I HAVE BEEN SAYING THE SAME THING TO MYSELF YEAR AFTER YEAR. IT'S LIKE WE TOTALLY DON'T GIVE A SHIT WHO IS DOWN IN OUR SYSTEM, AND WE DON'T TRUST ANYBODY BELOW THE AGE OF 24- 25 OR HIGHER! WAKE UP MOTHERFUCKERS!!!! MAJOR LEAGUE TEAMS ARE NOW STARTING KIDS WHO ARE 20, 21, AND 22! AND MANY OF THEM ARE PRODUCING! AT A FRACTION OF THE COST OF A "STAR"!!!! THANK GOD THE BIRD AND SEVERINO CALL-UPS WERE OUT OF NECESSITY, BECAUSE WE NEVER WOULD HAVE SEEN THEM IF IT WERE NOT FOR INJURIES....TWO THINGS I SEE HAPPENING THAT ARE GOING TO RATTLE MY CAGE IN 2016.. 1.) I KEEP READING ARTICLES SAYING THAT ROB REFSNYDER WON'T JUST BE "HANDED" THE 2ND BASE JOB......AND 2.) THE THOUGHT OF SENDING GREG BIRD DOWN TO SCRANTON JUST BECAUSE TEX COMES BACK MAKES ME WANT TO VOMIT DOWN MY OWN SHIRT. LETS GET TO THE METS....THESE OVER-HYPED MOTHERFUCKERS, LATE IN THE SEASON, (ARE YOU READY?), LOST: 2 OUT OF 3 TO TAMPA...LOST 2 OUT OF 3 TO THE YANKEES...AND LOST 2 OUT OF 3 TO BOSTON....(SEE ANY PATTERN HERE)? ...THEY CAN'T BEAT AN AMERICAN LEAGUE TEAM!!!! THEY ARE SO OVER-HYPED AND "SOFT"!!!! WHY ARE THEY SOFT?....MY OPINION IS ALL THESE "STUD" PITCHERS THEY HAVE, ARE NOT USED TO THE REGULAR ROUTINE THAT A.L. PITCHERS ARE USED TO....AND THAT IS FACING A FUCKING DESIGNATED HITTER EVERY DAY!!!! NO MATTER WHO IT IS, HARVEY, DEGROM, SYDERGAARD, OR MATZ- IF THEY PITCH ALL YEAR IN THE A.L., THEIR E.R.A. IS GOING TO BE 1.5 OR 2 FULL POINTS HIGHER! END OF STORY! YOU CAN'T "HIDE BEHIND" HAVING THE PITCHER COMING UP TO BAT TO GET YOU OUT OF A JAM ONCE, OR TWICE A GAME....SORRY "STUDS", YOU WILL ALSO LOSE ABOUT 50 STRIKEOUTS OR MORE OFF YOUR SEASONS TOTAL....DON'T GET ME WRONG. THESE "STUDS" ARE YOUNG AND OBVIOUSLY TALENTED, BUT THE MEDIA, (ESPECIALLY IN NY), HAS BEEN UNMERCIFULLY HYPING, AND OVER-HYPING THESE GUYS AS FUCKING "SUPERHERO'S", "DARK KNIGHT'S", AND "AVENGERS"....COMIC BOOK SHIT....NY MEDIA AND MET FANS HAVE THESE 4 GUYS PEGGED AS 4 SANDY KOUFAX's....THEY'RE NOT!!!! ALL THEIR LINES IN THE WORLD SERIES ARE GOOD (NOT GREAT). HARVEY 6 INNINGS 3 EARNED RUNS ....SYNDERGAARD 6 INNINGS 3 EARNED RUNS....DEGROM GOT HIT, I BELIEVE IT WAS 5 INNINGS 4 EARNED RUNS ....AND MATZ WAS 5 INNINGS 2 EARNED RUNS........BOTTOM LINE? THESE GUYS ARE ALL O.K. BUT, NO!.......BIG!.........DEAL!!!! ....FINALLY, THE MET FAN IS ALSO THE MOST "FICKLE" IN ALL OF FANDOM! ....FORGET ABOUT WHAT THEY WILL SAY ABOUT TYLER CLIPPARD....WAIT TILL YOU HEAR WHAT THEY WILL SAY ABOUT DANIEL MURPHY!...AND YOENIS CESPEDES! THE TRUE MET FAN WILL WANT BOTH OF THEM ON A SKEWER!...."LET THEM GO! EXECUTE THEM!" THEY WILL SAY! (FORGETTING ALL THE WHILE THAT THOSE 2 GUYS ARE THE GUYS THAT TRULY GOT THEM AS FAR AS THEY WENT)....AND BEFORE THEY WANT TO CRUCIFY DANIEL MURPHY, REMEMBER, HIS GLOVE IS THE WEAKER PART OF HIS GAME....A MANAGER MIGHT WANT TO PUT A "DEFENSIVE REPLACEMENT" IN FOR HIM TO START THE 8TH....(JUST A THOUGHT IN CASE THE YANKS DECIDE TO TAKE THE DANIEL MURPHY "PLUNGE"-WHICH I DOUBT)....THE SOB CAN HIT, AND LOOK AT IT THIS WAY. I BET YOU CAN ALMOST GET "ROBINSON CANO BAT PRODUCTION" FROM HIM, FOR ABOUT $185 MILLION DOLLARS LESS THAN CANO COST!!!! JUST MAKE SURE THAT DEFENSIVE REPLACEMENT COMES IN LATE IN THE GAME....LOL
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