Yankees trade for Pineda, sign Kuroda...

[JBS]

They really need to get Phil Hughes straightened out. He can't have another chaotic year.

you watch baseball, BB? dont know why, but im semi surprised by that, lol..yanks fan i take it?

as for the trade..i still cannot believe this trade went down..two teams trading their top prospects to improve their teams..i think Noesi being included in the deal gives the Ms the advantage now..however, ultimately this deal is going to come down to which prospect(s) reach their potential...could be a win-win trade..will be fun to watch it unfold

 

[bbgun]

Honestly, I think the way they handled Hughes at the beginning of last season was right out of the "Jerry Jones Management For Dummies" book.

I mean he shows none of his previous year's velocity in spring training so what do they do?

Nothing.

"Oh he'll be OK."

They let him start the season like that, he get's taken to the woodshed game after game and then they say, "Well maybe something isn't right here?"

I ask, why the heck wasn't something done in spring training to address his lack of velocity rather than put him out on the mound every few days?

I found the whole scenario stunning.

He showed up at spring training last year out of shape, so they probably attributed his lack of velocity to poor conditioning. By May, they knew it was something else entirely.

you watch baseball, BB? dont know why, but im semi surprised by that, lol..yanks fan i take it?

Yep, been living and dying with them since '78.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

He showed up at spring training last year out of shape, so they probably attributed his lack of velocity to poor conditioning. By May, they knew it was something else entirely.

I just think throwing him out there when they knew he didn't have the velocity was just wrong a bad move.

And it's not like he showed any velocity in spring training because he didn't.

 

[bbgun]

I just think throwing him out there when they knew he didn't have the velocity was just wrong a bad move.

And it's not like he showed any velocity in spring training because he didn't.

That's why they treated April as an "extended spring training." It's clear that he'll never be the untouchable, #1 stud that they envisioned just a few years go. Flip-flopping from starter to reliever to starter probably didn't help his cause. At this point, if he can develop into a steady #3 guy, I'll be happy.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

That's why they treated April as an "extended spring training." It's clear that he'll never be the untouchable, #1 stud that they envisioned just a few years go. Flip-flopping from starter to reliever to starter probably didn't help his cause. At this point, if he can develop into a steady #3 guy, I'll be happy.

I agree with that.

 

[YosemiteSam]

This is a big pickup for the Yankees. The kid is big, has a pitchers build, and a strong arm (throws in the mid 90s).

Right now, I only see two negatives with this kid. One mainly pretains to Yankee Stadium.

1. He only has 2 strong pitches. (though he throws 4 pitches: 2-seam, 4-seam, cutter, slider)
2. Throws almost 70% fly balls.

As for #1. That isn't all bad. Some pitchers can get by on two pitches, though it's tougher to do. Still he has only been in the league one year. He has plenty of time to work on his other pitches.

As for #2. It's odd that he throws a cutter and yet is still a heavy fly ball pitcher. That tells you his cutter is not a quality pitch. it also tells you he gets the ball up in the zone quite a bit. Something else he will have to work on. There are way to many fastball hitters in this league that hit with power. In Yankee stadium, that can become HRs very quickly. Seattle is definitely not a hitters park like Yankee Stadium. I suspect his ERA will jump at least a full point and his WHIP will jump too this season.

Either way, I think it was a great pickup for the Yankees. Montero is probably going to be an awesome hitter, but there are still big questions about his defense as a catcher. While getting one of the top hitters in the league can be expensive, getting a very good hitter isn't quite as bad and something the Yankees can do pretty easily with thier budget. Losing Montero is nothing when gaining a pitcher like Pineda. Great pitchers are very difficult to come by.

Seattle is offense starved, but trading away one of your top young pitchers isn't the way to get it. Seattle is ran by a bunch of baseball morons. This kid could have easily been their next Felix in 2-3 years. That type of pitching is just way to hard to come by to trade away without being forced. (they were forced to trade Cliff Lee as he wasn't going to stay in Seattle)

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

You don't see young pitchers like this available in MLB much. He could be really, really good. Yankees may not be done just yet. Gerardo Concepcion, a LHP from Cuba has declared for Free Agency and the Yankees are talking to him about signing. I do not know much about him other then the fact that he is 18, was 10-3 (16 Starts), with an ERA of 3.36 in Cuba's version of Triple A ball last year, and was named ROY. Texas is also interested in this kid, along with the Phillies, ChiSox and Cubs.

Yankees now have so many pitchers that I think they probably have to move one. I would not be surprised to see them trade one for a bat and I hope that it's a 3rd baseman. Yankees currently have C.C., Nova, Garcia, Hughs, Burnett and have just added Pineda and Kuroda. I would love to see the Yankees Michael Young but I doubt the Rangers move him, especially to the Yankees and the Rangers already have a nice rotation in place so probably not. Maybe a three team deal, IDK.

The guy that I would look at if I were the Yankees is Betemit. Last year he hit .292, .346 OPB, .525 Slg% and he has a lifetime .955 Fld%. He has been with the Yankee organization before and played well. I think that he could be a nice pick up on the cheap and could play 3B on a regular bases. Would allow the Yankees to move ARod to the DH, which would help him stay healthy and would also effectively replace the power the Yankees traded away in Montero at the DH. Betemit can also play all infield and outfield positions so you could use him anywhere in a pinch.

 

[YosemiteSam]

They had Wilson Betemit around 07'-08'. He has never been a big offensive player and has almost always been a part time player.

The only way I see the Yankees signing him is if they need to fill an infield bench role.

If the Rangers trade Young to the Yankees, they could sign Fielder.

I don't think the Yankees want Young's $12M salary on their books right now.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

They had Wilson Betemit around 07'-08'. He has never been a big offensive player and has almost always been a part time player.

The only way I see the Yankees signing him is if they need to fill an infield bench role.

If the Rangers trade Young to the Yankees, they could sign Fielder.

I don't think the Yankees want Young's $12M salary on their books right now.

I know. I said that he was with Yankees for two years. Look at his stats over the last three seasons. He's a .280 to .295 hitter. His fielding average is good. The Yankees need a guy who can spell both ARod and Jeter. They have plenty of offense up and down the lineup. They don't need a batting champion at 3rd when they can use ARod as the DH. They need to be able to put somebody out on the left side of their infield who can play good defense every day and not be hanging around the Mendoza Line the entire season. This is a guy, IMO, who could do that for them and be relatively cheap.

I like Young but the Rangers won't trade him to the Yankees and the Yankees may not want to spend the money on him either. On that last, we agree.