Michael Pineda traded for Jesus Montero; Yankees sign Kuroda

[YoGo24]

Wow. This trade is one of the most interesting trades in years. 2 of the most rising young stars in the entire league. I personally really love it for the Yankees. Their rotation is now probably one of the top 3 in baseball. Sabathia/Pineda/Nova/Hughes. Both of these guys are very close to cant miss. Montero will win a batting crown one day. This can probably cross out Prince to Seattle now as well. Maybe Yankees jump in on the Prince mix on a 2 year opt out deal to DH worth about 25 mil a year. Ill just say it is more likely now than it was yesterday at this time. Probably about a 1% chance now. Still love the trade for both teams. Jack Z very aggressive.

[jerichoholicninja]

They signed Kuroda too.

[brettac1]

Those two equal a pretty huge upgrade to their rotation in a matter of minutes.

[nate82]

Michael Pineda is a better prospect than Montero. This is going to be a bad deal and one that is probably going to get Jack Z fired in the future as this one is going to turn around and bite him rather hard. People complain about Melvin's trades wow this is just an outright bad trade for the Mariners as they could have gotten a whole lot more than just Montero for Pineda. I don't see Montero staying at catcher and this now gives the Mariners another 1B option with Smoak. I just do not get this deal at all for the Mariners. I doubt the Mariners will be able to keep Felix so this looks to be a bad move on their part.

[RockCoCougars]

I guess that Z really does hate pitching. Even though Pineda hit the rookie wall last season, he put up pretty good numbers for a 22 year old. Not a deal that I would have made.

[brettac1]

Well, maybe they know something about him health-wise. Similar to the Rockies with Jimenez.

[trwi7]

Yeah, I think the Yankees got the better of this deal. Also picked up a very impressive young arm in Jose Campos as well.

[Schlitz001]

Pineda is a stud. I watched him pitch at least 5 games last year and he's a monster. He's a large man who just makes hitters look silly with his velocity. It blows my mind that the Mariners would give him up.

[Funketown]

If there's nothing wrong with Pineda, you have to love this move for the Yankees. Sabathia - Pineda - Kuroda - Nova - Burnett. That's a very good rotation.

 

I know Jesus Montero is pretty much a blue-chipper, but I don't like the trade for the M's. Who knows though, some projections have him around .290/.350/.500 as a 22 year old catcher, so if he can hit like that for six seasons, it may well be worth it.

[TooLiveBrew]

Well, maybe they know something about him health-wise. Similar to the Rockies with Jimenez.

That was my first thought, too. Well, after 'Wow, huge trade.'

And as trwi7 notes, the thread title isn't the full trade: Michael Pineda + Jose Campos to NYY, Jesus Montero + Hector Noesi to SEA

[brettac1]

Montero was #3 on the BA list last year, IIRC. He's a total stud.

[TooLiveBrew]

Yep, #3 pre-2011 & #4 pre-2010. Would people have felt this was a bad deal if the Mariners had gotten 22-yo Prince Fielder for 22-yo Michael Pineda? Or is Campos the tipping point for those who really think NYY wins the trade, big-time? Just curious.

 

Montero's been projected as needing to move off C by almost everything I've read on him over the past two+ seasons, so I don't think viewing him as a catcher is very realistic. But his bat is legit enough that he's still an incredible piece to add. I dunno, seems like a pretty decent trade for both sides.

[trwi7]

I think overall Pineda for Montero is fair just based on needs, especially for the Mariners. It's hard to get position players to sign in Seattle, at least good offensive ones just based on the park being hard to hit in and it shouldn't be as difficult to get pitchers to sign there and it should make mediocre pitchers look better than they are.

 

The Campos for Noesi deal on the Mariners end makes no sense though.

[bando1234]

So does this make Hughes expendable while his value is down.

[paul253]

Wow.....huge deal. You don't see many like this anymore. I'd love to see more prospect for prospect trades.

[TooLiveBrew]

Funny how much it makes you think of the Garza-Young swap, since that was a hot topic of discussion on the ML forum not too long ago.

 

And I agree, more trades like this would be really fun to see.

So does this make Hughes expendable while his value is down

I'd have to guess Brian Cashman has already been contacted about Hughes. Because, yes, I don't see where he fits with the Yankees at this point. I should say that I don't know if he has any option years remaining; Cot's lists him with 4.113 years of total MLB service time.

[brettac1]

I like Montero a lot more than Young.

[NYChez]

We get Marcum for Lawrie and the Yankees get Pineda for Montero. That hurts.

[jjkoestler]

We get Marcum for Lawrie and the Yankees get Pineda for Montero. That hurts.

 

 

Montero is a much higher rated prospect. At least that's what I'm telling myself otherwise my loved ones will need to keep me away from small appliances and bathtubs.

[danzig6767]

We get Marcum for Lawrie and the Yankees get Pineda for Montero. That hurts.

Lawrie didn't blow up in the minors until after we traded him, Montero tore up the minors before he was traded.

 

Lawrie was young in AA, but his stats were just good, not great. Had he gone to AAA for us and posted a 1.060 OPS as he did for Toronto, i really doubt that Melvin makes the Marcum trade. If there should be criticism of Melvin for that trade it's that Doug and his other talent evaluators didn't see coming what Lawrie would end up doing so soon after the trade.

[danzig6767]

Well, maybe they know something about him health-wise. Similar to the Rockies with Jimenez.

I doubt that Jack Z had some inside info about Pineda health wise, but maybe he just looked at the fact that pitchers as a whole are bigger injury risks than position players and that factored into the decision to make this trade? Either way, given the extremely high value of high quality young starters on the cheap, i just think Jack should have gotten more for Pineda, much less include Campos. Plus, the Yankees were desperate for starting pitching.

 

My memory could be off here, but i thought i read during last season the Yankees offered Montero and Banuelos, plus maybe something else for King Felix. If true and i was Jack, i probably would have preferred making that deal over the Pineda trade given Felix is owed about 60 million dollars, Pineda will make basically nothing for years, and the Mariners likely won't contend for a playoff berth the next two years at least while they pay Hernandez 20 million per.

 

For the Yankees given their starting pitching, this has to be a wet dream trade come true. Montero obviously is a great prospect, but it's not like the Yankees will struggle to score runs without him, they've show that they can acquire hitting when they need it, and Pineda not only fills a massive hole in their rotation, he's under team control for at least five more years, most of which he will get paid pocket change to not huge money. Barring an injury to the kid, odds are very low that the Yanks won't look upon this day with great joy.

[Baldkin]

Pineda will make basically nothing for years, and the Mariners likely won't contend for a playoff berth the next two years at least while they pay Hernandez 20 million per.

But you're forgetting what the M's will bring in due to King Felix's acting....

[danzig6767]

I was wondering something about Montero.

 

From what i've read, many people in baseball seriously question if he can stick at catcher in the big leagues, thus he's more likely to end up being a DH. Plus, the rigors of catching nearly everyday tends to hurt a player's offensive production over time. So if Montero becomes the upper tier hitter the Mariners hope and he doesn't have good defensive catching skills anyways, removing him from catcher could make logical sense.

 

That said, is there any precedence in a situation like this to say making Montero a backup catcher/DH? Start him at catcher say 40-50 games a year to get some value out of him being a great hitting catcher, save wear and tear on his body, and negate some of his defensive shortcomings by Montero not catching 120 games a year instead? Of course though, whether he is only below average defensively or instead really poor defensively would have to be a big factor.

 

Besides all of that, Montero may not like or adjust well going from being a position player to a DH where is only game action each day is 4-5 at bats, and getting him on the field 40-50 times a team could help his psyche? I just don't recall another team doing this with a great hitting prospect who has serious questions about his ability to be a starting catcher?

[Roscoe Chill]

What an awful trade for Seattle. As someone pointed out, this one will get Jack Z fired.

[NYChez]

That said, is there any precedence in a situation like this to say making Montero a backup catcher/DH? Start him at catcher say 40-50 games a year to get some value out of him being a great hitting catcher, save wear and tear on his body, and negate some of his defensive shortcomings by Montero not catching 120 games a year instead? Of course though, whether he is only below average defensively or instead really poor defensively would have to be a big factor.

Dave Nilsson was played the same way in Milwaukee during the '90's. He came up as a catcher, bounced around between C/DH/1B/OF for most of his career, and then finished his career back at catcher when management thought the team had a chance to win.

This makes perfect sense for Montero. Have him play only 40-50 games a year at catcher until the offense becomes championship quality, and then move him full-time to catcher to maximize his value.