An Ace of an Opportunity

I received a postcard, recently, from Jesus Montero.

He has always favored me because I was pretty firm in my position that the Yankees lost the trade that sent him to Seattle for Pineda.

He wishes everyone on this blog well, by the way, and harbors no ill feelings toward his critics.  Jesus always asks me send him a freezer pack of mint-flavored ice cream sandwiches ( which I have been secretly doing ).  Some things never change.

As June 14, 2017 dawns, however, I am looking pretty much out of gas on Jesus' defense that the Yankees got the better half of that trade.  Numbers only lie for a while.

Pineda used to hurt us when he started.  Jesus never hurt us sitting in the minors, trying to learn another position and putting on pounds.  This was my position.

Now we have a true test of who we got in that trade.  And Pineda needs to deliver for the Yankees today. It is not enough that he has a good record.  A dominating win tonight is what differentiates an Ace from a guy having a decent season.

When the team has a flat loss, particularly after a spectacular winning streak, it needs an Ace to put a stop to the bleeding.  An ace has to shut down the opponent, with no mercy, so the team can get back on track. An Ace must stops losing streaks. Like the one we just fell into last night.

Who would have expected that M. Pineda would be in that spot for us?

This is an opportunity no one expected.

We'll be watching closely.