WASHINGTON (CBSDC) – The Washington Nationals completed a major offseason acquisition Wednesday, trading longtime setup man Tyler Clippard to the Oakland Athletics in exchange for infielder Yunel Escobar.
The arrival of Escobar — who’s played shortstop for the overwhelming majority of his eight-year Major League career, save for 20 games at second base and 20 at third — almost immediately sparked questions about what this deal may imply for Ian Desmond’s future with the club.
Nationals president and general manager Mike Rizzo discussed the acquisition at length Thursday morning, in a radio interview with 106.7 The Fan’s Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier, in which he elaborated on why the team felt Escobar would be a valuable return for Clippard.
“By all of our scouting reports and sabermetrics internal evaluations, we feel that [Escobar’s] more than capable of playing above-average Major League defense at shortstop, and at second base,” Rizzo said. “The public defensive metrics are something that we take with a grain of salt; we have our own private, internal defensive metrics that we utilize more often.
“The scout’s eye and the analytics combined is what we always use in our evaluations, and we feel that Yuni is a really good defender at both middle infield positions, can really play shortstop — and can play second base — and has performed offensively throughout his career. [He] had a little bit of a down year last year. We think he’s a rebound candidate that’s going to get back to his career norms and have a really solid, good year for us, and that updates our ball club both offensively and defensively.”
Rizzo would address possible implications from the deal for Desmond — who becomes a free agent after the 2015 season, and whose name has been heavily involved in trade rumors — when asked specifically if there’s still a chance Desmond could be moved this offseason.
“Well, you know, we never say ‘never’ here, but Ian Desmond is our shortstop of the Washington Nationals,” Rizzo answered. “He’s one of the best shortstops in baseball. He’s one of the leaders on the field, off the field, and in the community; one of my favorite players that I’ve been around, and he’s a terrific shortstop.”
“He is penciled in to be the Nationals’ shortstop on Opening Day, and hopefully through a long playoff run,” he added. “We love Desi. He’s a great player, and he’s a great player, and he’s a guy that’s going to play shortstop for us.”
In trading for Escobar, the Nationals leave themselves with plenty of assurances in the middle of the infield.
While it remains to be seen with which option they will ultimately go, their current roster, on its surface, would likely place Desmond at short, and Escobar at second. If they decided to trade Desmond, Escobar could slide to short, and either Danny Espinosa or Anthony Rendon could fill second base. Or possibly, the team has another option in mind.
In the meantime, many in the baseball world lie in wait of their plan.
Exec who has spoken w/ #Nationals isn't buying spin they dealt for Yunel Escobar to play 2B. Says they're still trying to move Ian Desmond
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Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) January 15, 2015Rizzo did concede it will be difficult to replace Clippard’s production, however, although he remains confident a “plethora” of young power arms in their farm system will help fill the void.
“I think it’s going to be difficult to fill Tyler Clippard’s performance in the eighth inning, but we certainly have candidates to back-fill the bullpen and power arms to get the opportunity to pitch later, more leverage innings during the game,” he said. “Bullpens are built each and every year. Tyler Clippard got an opportunity years back to prove what he could do, and we’re talking about him as one of the best eighth-inning relievers in baseball.
“So it opens the doors the Blake Treinens of the world, and the Aaron Barretts of the world, to take the next step and to progress in their career, and take more leverage innings. We’ve got great confidence in Craig Stammen and Matt Thornton, and Jerry Blevins, and those type of guys who made up our bullpen last year. We think we’re going to be a really good bullpen, and something that National League teams aren’t going to want to face.”
Rizzo would expound on Treinen’s potential, after being prompted to do so.
“Blake has proven himself as a Major League pitcher,” he said. “We value him as a Major League starter, but it’s not to say that, if our rotation is as it is right now, and all five of our starters stay healthy, that we can’t utilize Blake out of the bullpen.
“He’s a power arm that throws 95 to 100 in a bullpen row, with good sink and secondary stuff, and pounds the strike zone; and most importantly, he is not fazed or afraid to pitch in leverage situations during the game.
“We’ve got a plethora of power arms in the minor leagues that we can utilize at any time, in our starting rotation, or out of the bullpen,” he added. “Although it will be difficult to replace a Tyler Clippard, we think that we have the personnel and the depth to really put together a good championship-caliber bullpen.”
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