No, there's not a prospect on the Yankees named crickets, that's the sound of silence, well, semi-silence mixed in with cricket noises.
Pineda arrived out of shape (GREAT first impression, I don't think you get to make two of those), mysteriously lost 5-7 mph on the gun (seems odd for someone who is "healthy" and young), and got destroyed in Grapefruit League action. Now the team is stuck with this albatross. Anything but a torn labrum would have been a good diagnosis but there's something about pitchers with bad shoulders that just doesn't sit well. I keep thinking of this guy Mark Prior...
But I digress, looking forward, the Yankees do need pitching help and they need it sooner rather than later. All eyes are squarely on Andy Pettitte to help stabilize the rotation once he is ready but that solves only 1/2 the problem. Right now, there are two starters (Hughes and Garcia) that are underachieving (putting it very nicely) and there's not much behind Pettitte. Hughes cannot find his way out of the 5th inning and Garcia couldn't hack it through two in Boston this past weekend. Pettitte will easily take one of those spots but will the loser of that contest do something to put a stranglehold on the other?
David Phelps has opened some eyes, and rightfully so. Does he deserve a rotation spot? Well, he'd have to go down to AAA to build up strength to change roles. So who does that leave?
Manny Banuelos - can't stay healthy
Dellin Betances - can't throw strikes (this is NOT a 2012 issue, this is a recurring theme)
Adam Warren - maybe
DJ Mitchell - probably their best pitching prospect and has three good pitches.
Whatever does happen with Pineda, it will be a long road back to just pitch again and it's likely he'll need to learn how to pitch differently from the explosive 1-2 fastball-slider combo that won him 10 games as a rookie in 2011.
Further proof that I NEVER approved of this deal, shuffled in ascending order:
KingDJ27
