The Diamondbacks’ efforts to become competitive in 2016 continue:
Source: Clippard in agreement with #DBacks on two-year, $12.25M contract.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 8, 2016
Clippard deal with #DBacks is official, per source: $4M signing bonus, $4.1M salary in 2016, and $4.15M salary in 2017.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 8, 2016
While nowhere near their commitment to Zack Greinke, that’s a sizable spend on a reliever for a team without overwhelming funds (according to them, anyway).
[adinserter block=”2″]Clippard, who turns 31 this weekend, was a brilliant reliever for years in Washington before a trade to Oakland and then to New York in 2015. This past season, he was not quite himself, as virtually all of his numbers took a significant step back. Perhaps it was a blip, and perhaps getting to settle into Arizona will help him get back on track.
If so, it’s another strong addition to a Diamondbacks club that very much looks like it could contend atop the NL West standings, though obviously the Dodgers and Giants both also look excellent.
Which, then, could mean two of those three teams are strong contenders in the Wild Card race, too. The have and have nots in the NL are going to make for a very interesting set of playoff races. Thanks to the Wild Card, they’ll all impact each other, too.