Could Cashman Have Acquired Tyler Clippard?

Billy Beane continued to shake up his roster this week when he traded away recently acquired shortstop Yunel Escobar to the Washington Nationals for relief pitcher Tyler Clippard. First and foremost this goes to show you how valuable shortstops are these days, even average ones at best in Escobar, as Clippard even in a down season is still one of the better set up men in the National League. This acquisition was a good one for Beane in my opinion and it solves the Nationals second base job but it also begs the question, could the Yankees have landed Clippard?

As many of you know Clippard was originally drafted by the New York Yankees and was the Phil Hughes of the farm system before Phil Hughes was. Clippard was supposed to be the next big thing to come to New York, win 20 games and blow the competition away. A trade to the Nationals for Jonathan Albaladejo and a move to the bullpen later T-Clip, as I used to call him, finally found his niche and enjoyed a nice stretch setting up games in Washington’s bullpen.

You have to wonder if Brian Cashman could have flipped Jose Pirela or even Brendan Ryan, plus others, to Washington for Clippard. Pirela and Ryan come with more team control than Escobar at a much lower price tag. Ryan has two years left on his contract including his $1 million option for the 2016 season and Pirela has all six years of team control left to just two years and $13 million of Escobar. Shoulda, woulda coulda I guess but you have to think the Yankees could have pulled this trade off and really solidified the bullpen for good with a trade for Clippard. Oh well, what could have been…..