THE LEMON?

"Montero was supposed to be a superstar in pinstripes. In the end, the Yankees needed to make a hard choice and we did... we got some pitching in Michael Pineda and Jose Campos and Jesus will now rise in Seattle. I see it now, one bad outing by Michael Pineda in pinstripes and Yankeeland will scream bloody murder..."

I wrote that on January 17th in a piece called WHY TRADING MONTERO ALLOWS ROMINE TO SHINE. As you can see, it's happened. I have never seen Twitter quite like I see it right now... Yankeeland has erupted and no one is happy. Half are blaming Brian Cashman... Why? How would he have predicted an injury to young Pineda. All Michael Pineda wanted to do was pitch well and pitch hard to be chosen for the 5th spot of the rotation. Sure, if he felt pain before he went out there, he should have said something, but I don't see how that's Cashman's fault.

Some are suggesting maybe it was him being overweight that injured him. I don't know. Some suggested he should have said something if he was hurt before his outing. They're correct! I suggested just a few hours ago that it almost seemed like Pineda's mechanics were off. Read WHY MICHAEL PINEDA JUST MISSED HIS SHOT. And some are even suggesting that Pineda's problems are the same as Phil Hughes problems 1 year ago. I don't know... I'm waiting for official word. The good thing is, all the top sports writers are scrambling, do their best to get Yankee fans the info they need, and thank God for them. One thing's for sure though, this is no laughing matter. No one likes to see an athlete hurt and no one wants to see a 23 year old with a sparkle in his eye, eager to impress, hurt either.Yankeeland had high hopes, we knew trading Jesus Montero was a roll of the dice, because while we knew what we were getting with Michael Pineda, who really knew, right? I was worried early on and expressed concern about innings load when looking at his innings increase from 2009 to 2010. Read WHY THE INNINGS LOAD FOR PINEDA & NOVA WORRIES ME . I have no idea if that contributed to it, but one thing is for sure, if Michael Pineda felt soreness in his shoulder before he went out on the mound, he should have said something. Not saying something not only hurts the Yankees, but could essentially hurt his career.

I know, he was trying to impress...maybe make the rotation and not go to AAA, I get that, but now we have a bigger problem, don't we? Pineda's out most likely with an MRI scheduled for tomorrow on that right shoulder, what a mess.

Sure, the Yankees move forward, they have enough pitching and they'll be fine, but Pineda now must go through a recovery stage...it just sucks. Look, the title of this piece is called The Lemon? and that's because there are too many questions right now on this hurt pitcher, but at the end of the day, if Pineda did this to himself, it will be a mess in the Bronx. People will not only be calling for Pineda's head, but they'll be calling for Cashman's as well.

As things develop we'll bring it to you here at Bleeding Yankee Blue. But don't forget, it's not like we just sit and wait... the Yankees move on, with or without Pineda. After all, we have a championship to win this season. So right now the best thing to do it sit back, wait for a report and suck down a scotch. No doubt, things will work out, but unfortunately, it's not the way any of us expected it. Oh well, that's baseball... you never can predict it.

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