Saturday, January 14, 2012

10 True Things You Probably Didn't Know About Michael Pineda

1. Wednesday, he turns 23.

2. He missed most of 2009 with a bad elbow.

3. Going into last season, Baseball America ranked him the 16th best prospect in the game.

4. He struck out the first major league batter he ever faced, Ian Kinsler, on three pitches.

5. He was  named AL Rookie of the Month in April. He was practically unhittable.

6. He was selected to the AL All-Star team as a replacement for Justin Verlander. In the game, he pitched a perfect inning, striking out Scott Rolen and Rickie Weeks.

7. He fell apart in July, with an ERA of nearly 7.00.

8. In his one outing against Boston, he gave up 7 runs.

 9. He finished behind Ivan Nova, for fifth, in the AL Rookie of the Year vote.

10. His biggest problem is the first inning. The league hit .274 against him in the first.

12 comments:

Routine Groundball said...

What's your take duque? Still too stunned to form an opinion. Last night was like going to a roger ebert two thumbs up movie. I laughed, I cried. I had one hell of a time.

el duque said...

I don't know what to think. Even though it's hypocrital for me to act like I don't put my Yankee opinions in this blog - I do it all the time - I honestly try not to pretend to be an expert. So when a big deal like this comes along, who cares what I think.

Besides, by not declaring myself one way or the other, if Pineda tanks, I can claim down the road that I ALWAYS hated the deal. Hah!

Anonymous said...

I shat my pants and puked in my mouth.

The Yankees sacrificed Jesus for....

Cliff Lee?

Roy Halladay?

King Felix?

No... Ivan Nova's younger brother.


Signed Yankee Shamus

el duque said...

Hey, Shamus, how ya doin?

Routine Groundball said...

Haha your opinions are spot on man. Might not always be right, but you've got a good approach to the game. Plus, the humor here cuts the tension. I don't think most people will crucify you for being right or wrong either way.

Honestly, given the depth of the Yankees catching talent... I think I have come to peace with this. Trust me, its going to suck seeing Monte in an M's jersey... (Teal?! Really?!) but Pineda is beastly and Campos projects high even though he's so young.

Plus this covers us if Hamels, Cain, Greinke or anyone else gets extended out of free agency next year.

All in all, I think I may eventually go outside today.

el duque said...

Thing about this deal: There's probably going to be one big winner and one big loser. A bunch of experts are saying this is a deal that helps both teams. Yeah. Today it does. But the final assessment is a long way down the road.

If Jesus becomes the next Edgar Martinez - and he might - he will probably take delight in crushing our pitchers. It might be 2030 before we're done trying to make amends for this trade. In fact, the 2027 asteroid strike that wipes out civilization will happen first.

Then again, if Pineda becomes a young version of CC Sabathia, we're golden. We're in. There's not a DH in the world that's worth a Cy Young starter.

They might both suck, but I doubt it. Cashman just laid his entire historical legacy on one card, and we'll see how the dice roll.

Alphonso said...

You are all out of your f****** minds.

This is an unmitigated fubar.

Our catching depth is Cervelli: a .213 hitter sometimes, when he isn't hurt.

Those other guys can't hit that well and one of them is already a total head case that Grasslands Psychiatric hospital wouldn't accept.

el duque said...

At least we didn't trade Jesus for a thirty-something.

Now, we start the whole process over with Gary Sanchez?

Alphonso said...

Sure, except Sanchez can't hit and is mentally unbalanced. Maybe we can trade him for the right to pay some Japanese team $51 million to negotiate a 10 year $88 million contract for a lefty with bad teeth.

Alphonso said...

By the way, the reason he fell apart in July is the hitters figured out he only had two pitches.

He still has the same two.

For him, April, 2012, will be July 2011.

el duque said...

Right now, Sanchez is our new Jesus. Get onboard with that.

Gary is the new Jesus.

Joe De Pastry said...

Pineda sucked throughout the second half of last season. The Yankees will now suffer the Curse of Jesus: damned to 20 years of failure.