One of the Few Good Things From Last Year Gone!

The Mariners 2011 season was not great. The team lost 95 games and had one of the worst offenses in the DH era. In fact looking at the Mariners offensive number you would think they sent out a lineup of all Yuniesky Betancourt, which they didnt. One major bright spot from last season was the Mariners starting pitchers. Felix Hernandez, Michael Pineda, Doug Fister, Jason Vargas and Erik Bedard did a great job stopping opposing teams from scoring. During the season last year the M's traded Bedard and Fister away. Now the Mariners have traded Michael Pineda to the Yankees for Jesus Montero. They have gotten ride of yet another one of the good things from last season; there arent many yet. My intial reaction to this trade is it sucks.

Michael Pineda was a Major league All-star caliber talent. He finished his rookie season with 173 K in 171 IP and an ERA of 3.73. That is really good for a 22 year old rookie. Admittedly young pitcher have tons of injury risk, and Pineda had some injuries in the minors. So, he might get hurt and not turn into an Ace, but I think more likely he continues to progress and becomes a dominate force in the AL.

Jesus Montero is a AAA power hitter with tons of upside at the plate who currently plays catcher. However, he isnt expected to play catcher much longer. His defense has been compared to Mike Piazza or worse. For those of you that dont remember, Mike Piazza was a terrible defensive catcher. Montero is most likely going to end up at 1B or DH. The Mariners already have Mike Carp and Justin Smoak at 1B and DH. They dont need another prospect at 1B and DH.

Also, the Mariners had a chance at Montero two years ago and passed in favor of Smoak. The Yankees offered Montero for Cliff Lee. That makes me think that they graded Smoak higher than Montero. Why get Montero now, when you still have Smoak, who could turn into a major league talent?

Basically rating this trade boils down to if you think a high upside prospect hitter is better than a high upside major league ready starting pitcher. I dont think that it does. I would rather have a dominate pitcher holding down the rotation with Felix than the potential for a good 1B/DH.