Pitching has been on the Yankees' wish list for the entire off-season, and, truth be told, for about two years the Yanks have always seemed to be at least two or three pitchers short. Owner Hal Steinbrenner has been looking for top-line pitchers without sending his payroll over $200 million for the entire winter. In a span of 24 hours, the Yankees acquired two pitchers.
The Yankees acquired RHP Michael Pineda in a trade with the Mariners and signed RHP Hiroki Kuroda as a free agent. The Yankees consider these two acquisitions to the be the thing that will push them over the hump in the AL East, and they are again naming themselves as favorites for the AL pennant. The Yanks sent C/DH Miguel Montero - who had been penciled in as the team's third catcher and starting DH - and RHP Hector Noesi - who was set to compete for the fifth starter's job - to Seattle for Pineda.
The Mariners and Yankees had been fine-tuning this deal for weeks, trying to improve upon their rotation that was plagued last season by RHP A. J. Burnett and RHP Phil Hughes. Pineda has a good strikeout-to-walk ratio, is only 23, makes $415,000 per season, isn't arbitration eligible until after the 2013 season, and will be under team control until 2016. The Yankees rotation now looks like this: 1. LHP C. C. Sabatha, 2. Pineda, 3. RHP Ivan Nova. Those are the only guaranteed spots. Hughes, Burnett, Kuroda, and RHP Freddy Garcia will battle for the last two spots in the rotation and, presumably, at least one spot in the bullpen. The ultimate loser may be released in Spring Training.
Kuroda has been all-but-guaranteed one of those last two rotation spots, who the Yankees have been courting since last off-season (they also attempted to acquire him via trade last July). The barrier here was that Kuroda's asking price - $15 million - was considered too high. With the off-season starting to get late (pitchers and catchers report in a month) and the market shrinking Kuroda's price fell to within the Yankees' range.
Kuroda, who had a 1.21 WHIP and had a good K/9 ratio and will be 37 this season, will make $10 million with the Yankees this year. The Bombers have made it no secret that they will plan to trade Burnett this Spring, but that will be difficult given the $32 million that he is owed. Pineda, on the other hand, produced swings and misses on 12 percent of his pitches last season.
The Mariners were able to part with Pineda and 19-year-old RHP Jose Campos because they are deep in young pitching and shallow on offense, a situation which they hope will be helped by the acquisition of Montero. Montero had a .996 OPS last season in the Majors and has been an animal at the plate throughout his Minor League career. The Yankees were reluctant to part with Montero, who they expected to start this year.
But Steinbrenner believed that the need for pitching was greater than the need for offensive production. Right now, the Yankees plan to use a revolving door at DH, led by 3B Alex Rodriguez, and have been talking to free agent 1B Carlos Pena and DH/OF Johnny Damon, both of whom have experience as a DH. With seven starting pitchers in the fold, the Yankees could also make a trade to acquire a low-grade DH.
The Yankees are flaunting these two deals as the ones which put them back on top, but let's be realistic. You lost two of your "best" young players in Montero and Noesi (though neither of them have reached their potential) and in return you got one good young pitcher and another who's in low-A ball. Kuroda should be a nice sign, but he's going to be 37 next season and here's LeRoy predicting that he will be viewed as a $10-million-bust by November 2012. Montero was said to be the next Mike Piazza, will Pineda be worth that? The AL East and the AL Pennant, that's what Steinbrenner says this rotation will bring the Yankees. Well the pennant has to be earned in the playoffs, so that's premature. And by the way, it wouldn't be that much of a surprise to see the Yankees finish in third place in the East this season, with or without this rotation.
No comments:
Post a Comment