A Whole Lot of Hype About Nothing

So you think these last few days have been exciting, right? Baseball writers all over the west and east coasts raving about their perspectives concerning the Pineda/Montero deal announced Friday. And for the most part everyone’s been saying, it’s a win-win right? Well it’s time to get radical, because I believe that the Pineda/Montero deal is a petty excuse for reestablishing the New York Yankees.

By means of this deal, top Yankees’ prospect, Jesus Montero will be shipped out to Seattle, and former rookie pitcher, Michael Pineda arrives in the Empire State. Under what circumstances does this trade solve any of the Yankees problems, unless they wish to have another valuable prospect to trade in Pineda as they did with Montero?

Whether or not Jesus really was the messiah the Yankees needed is not important. The fact that they Yankees traded away what many fans believed to be their future is not important. All this trade shows is that the Yankees continue to evade their real dilemma. The New York Yankees have not addressed the problem of strengthening their pitching staff through this acquisition.

Pineda may have had a “good” year. But he is not an established pitcher, he cannot assert the Yankees a good season the way CC Sabathia can. He is not 23, just finished his rookie season and now is expected to pick up the role of a 2 or 3 starter on arguably the greatest franchise in sports history. Besides the fact that he had a less than superb season, he is not what the Yankees need to fix their pitching staff. Pineda started the season strong, the first 8 decisions or so, in which he amounted to a 6-2 record with a sub-three ERA. However, after that everything went down hill. Following the first two months of the season, he would win a total of 3 more games, and that’s not before All Star break, but right through to September. Last year he was inconsistent and streaky. Even when he did win games, it would come with heavy run support from a not so built ball club. Although his strikeout rates topped many, his season ERA of about 3.75 is somewhat despicable.

Pineda (source: http://cdn.everyjoe.com)

Aside from his higher strikeout rates, he is not worth the number two spot or three spot in the Yankee order. I still say that the only legitimate Yankees starter is Sabathia. Not even Nova (whose high ERA, and soaring run support resembles that of Phil Hughes the previous year with his many wins), can be trusted to have a good season. Rather, it is time the Yankees clean up the mess, and climb out of the hole they have dug themselves into. An older pitching staff, and batting order is the problem they should address. I for one am glad Jorge is gone, if he were smart he would have retired though. The Yankees need to settle a deal of better quality, one to receive a star pitcher. Maybe not another CC, but signing a sophomore and expecting him to become a star is foolish. You can only assert yourself a good deal when you’ve received an established player. Just cause the guy’s almost as big as CC doesn’t make him a superstar.

Featured Picture: (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)