Welcome To The 716

The New York Yankees have had a quiet off season.  Other than some smaller acquisitions such as Dewayne Wise, Hideki Okajima, and Jayson Nix, Brian Cashman has kept his check book in his pocket.  Well on Friday evening that all changed.  I am not sure what move happened first, but the Yankees signed free agent pitcher Hiroki Kuroda to a 1 year $10 million dollar deal.  And if that was not enough to bolster the Yankees rotation, Cashman made a trade for one of the best young arms in all of baseball Michael Pineda.  The Yankees did give up Jesus. Jesus Montero that is, their stud catcher in the minor leagues who in 69 plate appearances hit 4 home runs and drove in 12 runs.

Will they be able to handle the pressure in NYC?

In Pineda’s first big league season, he finished the year off with a 9-10 record.  Pineda tossed 171 innings, allowing only 133 hits, and striking out 173 hitters.  The 22 year old’s ERA was 3.74 and his strike out to walk ratio was an astonishing 3.15.  Pineda earned a spot on the American League All-Star roster and finished 5th in the AL Rookie of the Year voting.  Hiroki Kuroda finished last year with the Los Angeles Dodgers after his name had been mentioned in trade rumors.  Kuroda, age 36, has spent all four of his big league seasons as a member of the Dodgers after coming to American from Japan.  Over the course of those 4 seasons, Kuroda has a record of 41-46 with an ERA of 3.45.  With these two additions, the Yankees are now the favorites in the AL East.  The Yankees now have a nice rotation:

1) CC Sabathia

2) Huroki Kuroda

3) Michael Pineda

4) Ivan Nova

5)Freddy Garcia/Phil Hughes/AJ Burnett

There is nothing wrong with having too much pitching, and that is a problem I am sure manager Joe Girardi will love to have.  One man gets hurt or is struggling, no big deal, let me just plug somebody in.  How will the Red Sox respond?  How about they go out and get Pineda’s former teammate Felix Hernandez.  Lester, Hernandez, Beckett, Buchholz, and whomever Bobby V wants to throw in the 5 spot.  Bam! Talk about making moves.  How about Ben Cherington makes a move Theo Epstein couldn’t.  If the Red Sox get King Felix they will win the World Series.  That is a big if though.

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