The Wall Street Journal-Michael Pineda, the prized young pitcher whose acquisition defined the Yankees’ winter, has a tear in the labrum of his pitching shoulder and will require season-ending surgery. Pineda, 23, will undergo arthroscopic surgery Tuesday and faces a 12-month recovery. There is no guarantee that he will ever return to being the fireballer the Yankees thought they had acquired at great cost this January. ”I’m devastated,” Cashman said. “There’s obviously always risk involving pitchers, but obviously this was a big move that I pursued this winter.” That big move came when Cashman gambled his can’t-miss top prospect, the slugging catcher Jesus Montero, for Pineda, a 6-foot-7 flamethrower from the Dominican Republic who became an All Star in his 2011 rookie season.



Listen, there is nothing good about this Pineda situation so there’s no point in sugar coating it. Losing him for a year is awful and yes, there is no guarantee that he’ll ever be the same fireballer he was in Seattle. With that being said, the guy is 23 fucking years old. Do you know how young 23 is? 2 years removed from his first legal beer and Yankee fans are ready to take Seabiscuit out back and put a gun to his head. He’s young and there are several pitchers that you may have heard of who have come back from this type of injury. Curt Schilling and Chris Carpenter both had the surgery in 1995 and 2002 respectively, and both came back to help their team win multiple championships. Oh and this Roger Clemens guy had it in 1985 and I think things turned out pretty well for him. Steroids or not, the guy won championships, redefined pitching, and killed his role in Kingpin, all after his labrum injury. Again, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING GOOD ABOUT THIS SITUATION. I’m not saying Pineda is guaranteed to come back as the ace Yankee fans hoped for when they traded Jesus Montero, but I’m not ready to say his career has been Munson’d yet either. It gets a little ridiculous when I get 50 people screaming “trade backs” at me like we’re swapping baseball cards. 23, people… 23.

And I love how everybody is coming down on Cashman for this one. Like the guy hasn’t built a dynasty over the past decade and a half. “Oh great, Cashman pulled another Pavano.” First of all, the Pavano situation is not even in the same ballpark as this. Pavano missed time for a “bruised buttocks” in a 2006 spring training game… Pineda’s shoulder is falling off his body. There is no similarity between the two. But back to Cashman. If anybody in the stock market could deliver Brian Cashman’s success rate, they’d be viewed as a God, and would probably be investigated for insider trading. Baseball’s Gordon Gecko has given Yankee fans the most consistent franchise in perhaps the history of sports over the last 15 years. Not to mention, that kid Jose Campos that the Yankees also got back in the Pineda deal is 3-0 with a 1.23 in the minors. The fact that Yankee fans ask for his Cashman’s head when one of his decisions is in question is what makes the rest of the league’s view us as spoiled, incompetent assholes.

P.S.- Wait, forget everything I just said. Surgery is being performed by the Mets team physician. Kid’s done. BUST