In January of 2012, the Yankees made a big splash in the trade market by acquiring Seattle’s up and coming star pitcher, Michael Pineda, and in return sent highly regarded prospect Jesus Montero to the Mariners. The Yankees included Hector Noesi and the Mariners sent Jose Campos for an even two for two swap.
Pineda had come off a 2011 all-star season, going 9-10, with a 3.74 ERA and 174 strikeouts for the Seattle Mariners. Pineda also came in fifth place that year in the America League Rookie of the Year voting. Montero played 18 games for the Yankees in 2011, batting .328, with 4 home runs and 12 RBI.
In 2012, Montero was inserted into the meat of Seattle’s lineup playing 132 games, batting .260 and had 15 home runs and 62 RBI. Since then he has bounced up and down from the majors to the minors in the Mariner organization, only playing 38 games for Seattle in 2015. Pineda spent the entirety of the 2012 season on the DL with a shoulder injury, eventually turning into surgery. 2013 started the same way for Pineda as he started the year on the 60-day DL still recovering from the shoulder surgery and finished the season in the minors going 1-1 for the Rail Riders. In 2014, Pineda started 13 games for the Yankees, going 5-5 with a 1.89 ERA and spent time serving a suspension for the infamous foreign substance incident.  Even with a short stint on the DL, the big right hander had a promising 2014 campaign. Last year, Pineda started 27 games for the Yankees, going 12-10 with a 4.37 ERA.
Both players have had their ups and downs since being traded with Pineda’s injury woes, pine tar suspension and Montero being linked to a PED clinic. When the trade was announced in 2012, it seemed like the Mariners had pulled a fast one on the Yankees because Montero had been a highly talked about offensive player and Pineda had been mostly a mystery to Yankees fans. The Yankees and Pineda seem to be pulling ahead on who won this trade as Montero can’t seem to meet his once top rated offensive expectations. The Yankees hope that Pineda can give them some consistent, healthy years in the future and reach his sky-high potential. There have been plenty of glimpses of his talent including the 16 strikeout game last May when Big Mike was On Fleek!
Pineda strikes out 16 and Yankees announcer, Michael Kay says that he’s “On Fleek!’A Big thanks to Michael Kay for the shout-out on his show! Looks like he’s a fan of the Bronx Pinstripes tees! We even made him a special #OnFleek shirt! Check it!
Posted by Bronx Pinstripes on Thursday, May 21, 2015
Let’s hear from Yankees’ fans –Â now that it has been three years who won this trade?
