Day 307

Fresh Start_307: Carter out; but the Bombers still have problems
With the exist of Chris Carter following his designation on Friday after the 2-1 walk-off win against the Rangers, Tyler Austin gets his call up, and Tyler Clippard gets the “Most Hated Yankee” award from the bomber fan base.

The 32-year-old right hander has had about the worst of months that you can have coming out of the pen. In the month of June, Clippard has a 14.09 ERA in 7.2 innings giving up 4 homers and allowing 12 hits. Clippard also has only stroke out six batters and walked five in 7.2 innings. The boo’s that Clippard will hear as he comes into his next game are well deserved for the poor performance and may garner Clippard to lose his 7th inning role to another reliever.

Clippard’s June numbers have to come as a shock to almost all Yankee fans because of how good he was in the months of April and May this year—on top of his seemingly lights out performance last year after coming over from Arizona. Clippard in the month of April had a 1.86 ERA in 9.2 innings only allowing 1 homer, 5 hits, and striking out 13 batters. In May, Clippard improved his 2017 campaign with a 1.46 ERA in 12.1 innings allowing no homers, allowing 7 hits, and striking out 16.

Possible replacement Jonathan Holder hasn’t had that much better of a month—having a 5.06 ERA in June allowing 3 homers and 13 hits in 10.2 innings. Holder’s 8 strike outs are a sliver lining but not much better than Clippard himself.

Handing the 7th inning role over to rookie Domingo German may be too risky now, with his limited sample size in the Major’s. His live arm could be a plus for the ball club, but forcing him into the role may be too much to handle for the 24-year-old. And, giving the role to Chasen Shreve would mean the Yanks losing their lefty specialist.

Shreve would be the best option for replacing Clippard if you go by the numbers in June. Shreve has a 4.05 ERA in 6.2 innings while striking out 9 batters, 5 hits, and no home runs. But again, I don’t think allowing Shreve to have his own inning would benefit the bombers if it means losing the left specialist. It could be a short-term solution, but if it last longer than a couple of games, the bombers will need to look to get another lefty specialist while simultaneously finding a new home for Clippard (possibly giving him the same farewell as Carter).

Whatever the solution is—it needs to happen quickly due to the Red Sox resurgence in the division and the Yankees losing 9 out of their last 11. Overreaction has now subsided to concern for the bombers, which that could lead to tension from the players, and more bad play. Ride the ship of bad relief pitching, hope it works itself out, and hopefully the Yanks won’t be too far behind in the division or playoff race in general once everything is worked out.
Sources:(baseballreference.com, mlb.com, bleacherreport.com)

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