Houston Astros Rumors: The PTBN for Tyler Clippard should be…

The Houston Astros decided that making a move was paramount going into the final stretch of the season by trading for reliever Tyler Clippard.

The Houston Astros shocked many of the faithful by making a deal for a promising reliever in Tyler Clippard.  We had just faced him the Chicago White Sox series so the scouting team had their eyes locked on him the whole time.

Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports broke the story:

The Chicago White Sox announced the deal becoming official with the details:

So the biggest question is who is the player to be named later?  Is it a low-level or high-level prospect?  I’d imagine that it’s a guy that’s somewhere in the middle and there is one candidate that I have in mind.  It would be none other than 2nd baseman Tony Kemp.  He has performed well throughout the entire season with a slash line of .327/.376/.481 with an .857 OPS for the Fresno Grizzlies this season.  He also has 51 ribbies, 20 doubles, 10 home runs and 21 stolen bases.

Although the Houston Astros have a ton of players on the farm that they can include in a deal, they likely sought the middle ground and it worked for both parties whomever this PTBN will be.  We’ll be finding out about that soon.  I’m pinning my prediction on the fact that Jeff Luhnow did not want to trade away our highest-rated prospects in the deal.

But enough about Ton, let’s talk about Clippard.  Against the Astros in last week’s series, he struck out four and allowed three hits through 3.0 innings of work.  He was credited with his second save of the season in the White Sox’s 8-5 win over the Astros this past Tuesday.  So the old adage of “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” works well here and he could be a tremendous boost to our bullpen.

In the 11 games he has appeared for the White Sox, he has posted a 1.80 ERA, 12 strikeouts, 2.24 FIP, 1.30 WHIP, 10.8 K/9 through 10.0 innings pitched.  Although his numbers were a lot worse earlier this season with the New York Yankees, this was enough of strong showing to indicate that he’s worth trading for.

His four-seam fastball that sits in the 90s is where he earns his living but has a change-up with a peculiar circle change grip — as per Brooks Baseball — that can do damage along with his splitter.  Both of the two aforementioned pitches sit in the low 80s.

Clippard, 32, has posted a 4.27 ERA, tossed 54 strikeouts, allowed 22 earned runs with a 4.39 FIP and 1.224 WHIP through 46.1 innings pitched between the Yankees and White Sox this season.

Go Astros!