PINEDA IS A SLEEPER HIT FOR 2016

I like Mark Simon of ESPN.  I want to be clear here.  I really don't like many folks from ESPN at all.  I like Wally Matthews, Simon, Marchand... these guys are top notch, they do it right.  They, like me aren't about the hate, but they will have banter when it comes to opinion as long as you have a brain in your head and you're not a douche. It's a respect thing, you know the drill.

Some of the folks at ESPN bother me and reek of arrogance, like our buddy Peter Keating from a few years ago. That guy thought it would be fun to try to use BYB as an example in his article about Robinson Cano (Read HUSTLE TO BE NUMBER 1... NOT 2.) I guess he thought we didn't read him or didn't think we'd notice or whatever. When I asked him about it via email, even after I thanked him for the mention us and told him we strongly disagreed on Twitter, there was nothing. He coiled up like the roly poly he is, kept his nose in the air, and ignored us.

Sad for him. That's not how this works.  What he didn't realize is that kind of behavior taints a franchise and arrogance never wins... bottom line.

Anyway... off to bigger and better folks... Mark Simon's great piece! He wrote a piece about Michael Pineda and Carlos Martinez and how they are the sleepers for the Cy Young. The piece is smart and good and I wanted to share some of it with you:

"This year, I’m going with Carlos Martinez of the St. Louis Cardinals and Michael Pineda of the New York Yankees... Why Pineda? Pineda underachieved in 2015. He had a strikeout-to-walk rate of better than 7-to-1, but a 4.37 ERA because of a propensity for giving up home runs (16 in Yankee Stadium, five on the road).

I’m going to gamble that he figures it out. He’s 27 and healthy and a lot was expected of him early in his career, so why can’t he fulfill those expectations now? He’s also looked awfully good in spring training.

The key for Pineda will be full-season maintenance. He had a 2.72 ERA through seven starts (including a 16-strikeout gem against the Orioles) last season, and seven starts after that in which he allowed no runs or one run, but he also had a bunch of clunkers in which he got fried by the long ball.

There’s also the advanced stats case to be made for Pineda. Though his ERA was 4.37 last season, he had a 3.34 FIP (based on strikeouts, walks and home runs allowed). His 1.03 ERA-FIP differential was third-biggest among those who pitched at least 100 innings last season and was the product of a lousy BABIP (.332) and a low-strand rate (68.6 percent).

If Pineda pitches as well as he did last season -- and there’s no reason to believe he won’t -- he’s going to be pretty good. And if he’s a little better, he might be Cy Young Award worthy."

Now, much like Mark, I do too believe Pineda will have a really great year.  Even BYB reader and friend Tony Zeppieri thought Pineda should have been handed the Opening Day start this season:

@BleednYankeeBlu @MikeandDawnNY @MikeSkrzenski @gymkoukla @ChristyMartin if I were the Yankees I'd stop worrying about these guys egos....

— Tony Zeppieri (@ZeppieriTony) March 31, 2016

@BleednYankeeBlu @MikeandDawnNY @MikeSkrzenski @gymkoukla @ChristyMartin and contract status'. My opening day starter would be Pineda...

— Tony Zeppieri (@ZeppieriTony) March 31, 2016

He's right. Pineda's been solid and I agree. Tie that in with Mark Simon's analysis, and yes, it's a guess... but it's an educated one.

Anyway... I wanted to share this with all of you. Nice piece Mark.

Do me a favor...tell Keating to get some balls.

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