As for the trade itself, now more than ever open to second-guessing, I’ll have more on that in a subsequent post. None of them, including Pettitte, are likely to be the pitcher that Pineda was in the first 15 starts of his major-league career (2.45 ERA, 94 strikeouts in 95.2 innings), but they don’t have to be they just have to be a little better than average and let the offense do the rest. Mitchell, who looked terrific during spring training, could get chances. Further down the line, touted prospects Dellin Betances, currently getting raked at Triple-A, Adam Warren (likewise), Manny Banuelos (on the Triple-A DL with a sore back) and sinkerballer D.J. Rookie David Phelps, who has pitched quite well in long relief, is another possibility. First in line is the veteran Andy Pettitte, rebuilding his strength at Double-A Trenton as I write these words. They would undoubtedly be better Should the starters, particularly back-end rotations pitchers Phil Hughes (pitching against the Rangers as these words float gently to the page) and Freddy Garcia continue to struggle, the Yankees have plenty of alternatives. Yankees starting pitching has been mediocre so far, but they are leading the league in runs scored per game, so they have some leeway in terms of support, and the bullpen has been the best in the league. As I joked on Twitter earlier, the Yankees entered Wednesday night’s game on a pace to win 95 games without Pineda. Were his second-half 2011 or spring training struggles indicative of a incipient problem? We will never know. In other words, an MRI wouldn’t necessarily have shown Yankees or Mariners doctors that Pineda was going to be hurt, just that he was or was not hurt. They can spot things that are there, but not things that aren’t, and as finely detailed as they are, there are some anomalies that escape their notice. Cashman:Īs a cancer survivor who has undergone numerous MRIs, usually in a state of terrified claustrophobia, I can tell you that they aren’t prescient. The Yankees say there is no question of damaged good that Pineda underwent more than one MRI and the labrum tear was not seen. More will be known after the surgery has been performed and doctors have better visualized the injury. Then there is Erik Bedard, Ted Lilly and Brandon Webb, halfway to a Hall of Fame career The key here is, there are tears and there are tears, and as things go, right now, the thought is that Pineda’s is the former rather than the latter. His teammate, Kerry Wood, had labrum surgery in 2005, and he’s had a career since then, just not the same career as a dominating starter. Now, Prior also had surgery on just about every other part of the arm you can have surgery on, so don’t overreact to that cautionary tale-he’s the everything bagel of defective pitchers. Still, there is no guarantee that Pineda will recover and be the proto-ace that the Yankees thought they were getting-consider that Mark Prior is one of those that had labrum surgery in the past. In Pineda’s case, the tear should be approachable via arthroscopic means, by definition, a less invasive procedure. The labrum is just not in a very accessible spot and often requires open shoulder surgery. Labrum surgery is a far more daunting problem for a pitcher than, say, Tommy John surgery. Well, he’s not looking down the barrel anymore-the gun has gone off in his face.
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