You can't just throw appearances out. These are the stats for each player. Villanueva as a reliever for his whole career and McClung as a reliever only with the Brewers (his numbers would look a lot worse if I put in his numbers with Tampa Bay.) Villanueva - 222.2 IP, 7.88 H/9, 3.96 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 3.03 BB/9, 8.69 K/9, 3.86 FIP McClung - 108.1 IP, 7.89 H/9, 3.82 ERA, 1.49 WHIP, 5.48 BB/9, 6.98 K/9, 4.56 FIP Villanueva is just a better pitcher than McClung and he's going to be cheaper. Simple as that.