This was pretty much inevitable given Clippard’s performance since taking over for The Man Who Couldn’t Shoot Straight a/k/a Henry Rodriguez.
Tyler Clippard has been so dominant as the Nationals’ closer that he will continue in that role, if he continues at this pace, even when closer Drew Storen returns from the disabled list, Manager Davey Johnson said after Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Orioles.
“Right now he’s my closer and the way he’s going I can’t see going to somebody else,” Johnson said. “They’d have to show me up here probably in a setup role before they have the opportunity to close.” [...]
Clippard, who has been the Nationals’ best reliever and primary setup man for the past two seasons, has been nearly unhittable since assuming the closer’s role from the ineffective Henry Rodriguez in late May. Since then, Clippard is a perfect 12 for 12 in save opportunities, has allowed no runs and only one hit, and struck out 16 batters. In fact, according to Clippard, it’s the best stretch he has ever had as a reliever in his career.
“I feel really good having the confidence of Davey and my teammates,” he said. “It goes a long way. When you’re out there grinding, you know that he’s got your back.”
It does give rise, however, to some interesting and awkward questions about who will be playing what roles in the bullpen come July. Does Storen become the 8th inning setup man or does he have to earn it given Sean Burnett’s equally as impressive performance as Clippard’s wingman in that position?
Oh well, I suppose you can never have too much reliable relief pitching on a team that scores an average of 2 runs a game.
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1. ThisElevatorIsDrivingMeUpTheWall Posted: June 25, 2012 at 11:59 AM (#4165644)It is interesting to note how many of his holds and other 8th inning appearances are of higher leverage than his saves. 9 of 12 saves are of aLi of 1.33 or lower.
It's a myth that the setup guy in general gets more important innings than the closer. Last year Storen had a higher % of high leverage innings than Clippard: See here
Every single team in baseball uses a bullpen by committee.
By the way, Clippard had a 6.33 ERA with a 1.704 WHIP with the Yankees and never did live up to his nickname..the Yankee Clippard. (According to BR. He was even worse than I remembered there.)
Now it's "Clip and Store".
IIRC, the Yanks had Clippard throwing his curve a lot when they wanted him to be a starter and it was a lousy pitch, a perfect complement to his no command high 80s fastball. I don't think he always had the change up he had now, so it is fair to say that the Tyler Clippard who started for the Yankees no longer exists. I wonder if the Nats just taught him how to throw a better change or if just plays way up in the bullpen.
He did have a pretty good Major League debut, but otherwise was just awful.
A popular myth, too. I even saw Rany praising the Royals for using their "5th best reliever" (Broxton) as closer.
The guy with the fastest fastball or curviest curve ball? The guy who simply keeps additional runs from scoring regardless of his stuff, K rate, BB rate, runners allowed, etc.?
Dead on. He has a perfect "autograph request proof" look..nobody would buy him as a big league reliever.
With Henry and Lidge out and gone, respectively, the last couple innings have been much more peaceful for Nationals fans. At least if we could average more than 2.6 runs a game, or whatever it is.
Plus, during his stint with the Yankees, he had, I swear, the absolute worst acne I've ever seen on a major league ballplayer
He is my wife's favorite player for exactly this reason. She will tolerate the Nats, but when Clippard comes on she will exclaim, "It's THE NERD!" and sit down and watch.
This is misleading, as it considers leverage across all batters faced rather than the leverage when the pitcher first entered the game. A pitcher who pitches well is going to reduce the leverage of the appearance as his appearance progresses, and vice versa.
Now consider the share of each pitcher's 2011 appearances according to the leverage of the first PA of each appearance:
2011 G GR GF SVOpp SV BSv SV% SVSit Hold IR IS IS% 1stIP aLI LevHi LevMd LevLo Ahd Tie Bhd Runr Empt >3o <3o IPmult 0DR Clippard 72 72 8 7 0 7 0% 45 38 46 10 22% 8 1.537 44 19 9 50 13 9 26 46 27 11 28 15 Storen 73 73 52 48 43 5 90% 51 3 10 2 20% 9 1.853 41 18 13 53 14 6 6 67 8 6 10 24In 2011 these two pitchers appeared in almost exactly the same number of relief appearances: 72 for Clippard and 73 for Storen. However, Clippard entered 3 more games with high leverage in the first plate appearance, 1 more game with medium leverage in the first plate appearance and 4 fewer games with low leverage in the first plate appearance.
Storen seemingly had the benefit of entering lots of clean 9th innings. He entered almost 50% more games with no one on base than Clippard did, and had 59 appearances of exactly 1 inning versus 34 for Clippard.
Number of appearances with at least X plate appearances:
PA 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total PA Clippard 72 71 67 52 29 22 11 4 1 329 Storen 73 72 72 45 28 9 4 303Average Leverage for each plate appearance:
PA 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Average LI Clippard 1.70 1.41 1.23 1.62 1.64 1.67 1.89 1.19 4.29 1.53 Storen 1.81 1.65 1.48 2.44 2.50 1.78 2.34 1.86Yeah, she was awesome.
So...you do MILFs?
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