WHY WE SHOULD EXPECT PINEDA SOON...BUT NOT NOW

Thursday Michael Pineda got on a mound again. It’s the first time since he was diagnosed with tendinitis. It was a 25 pitch throwing program, according to Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News. Read HERE. After throwing, Pineda experienced no problems. Thank God.

Cashman said “No worries, no problem…what he had was mild.”

Bryan Hoch of MLB.com wrote about how it is expected to see Pineda back with the team soon, but according to Yankee officials, will most likely be out of the mix in the month of April... which I guess leaves May for the big guy. That's a full month of rehab and that works for me, why rush it. Unless one of the other 5 rotation guys shits the bed in the month of April, there is no need to rush. Read Hoch HERE.

I’m looking forward to Pineda coming back, but much like our own Jeana Bellezza wrote in WHY YANKEE ROTATION QUESTIONS WILL SURFACE AGAIN, the rotation may be set, but not for long. While too much pitching is a good problem, it’s a bad problem as well. I only mean that if the rotation is pitching well, why tinker? If the rotation has a few guys that have a few minor bad outings, you don’t necessarily take them out of a rotation this early in the season. Why do it?

On the other end, you can’t just sit there with guys like Michael Pineda and Andy Pettitte sitting and waiting for an opportunity to get out there and compete for a spot in the rotation. Plus, what we don’t want to do is go to a 6-man rotation. I am a believer that last season, Joe Girardi had more concern about getting work in for guys like Phil Hughes and Freddy Garcia to compete for a 5th spot in September and not enough concern with his ace, CC Sabathia who works better ever 5^th day. Read WHY CC WILL OPT-OUT IF IGNORED BY JOE. Provocative headline yes, but the points in that post:

"Waiting too long to adjust CC Sabathia who is currently messed up going on an extra days rest will ultimately destroy our ace, and possibly end our Yankees season early."

Now CC Sabathia’s a class act, he never voiced criticism of his skipper, but we all knew that affected him down the stretch.

Finally, I was criticized in a comments forum of the Seattle Post Intelligencer for asking the question of whether or not Michael Pineda was a lemon (Read THE LEMON?) Read the criticism in SPI HERE. If you read my piece, which apparently no one in Seattle did, I support the big boy, I’m excited about Michael Pineda. I was merely suggesting that if Pineda doesn’t perform like everyone expects, and Jesus Montero tears it up, it’s going to be interesting to see what happens in Yankeeland because, let’s face it, the day that trade went down, both Yankeeland and Seattle were both turned upside down. So, my question was, will chants for Cashman’s head be heard loudly in the Bronx if Pineda doesn’t perform as advertised? That’s it.

Bottom line, I expect big things from Michael Pineda and if he can handle the pressure of pitching in the Bronx, he’ll be a star and I hope he is...in May of course.

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