ANOTHER CRAZY TRADE IDEA...

Photo: SL Today

It's the All-Star break and until there is baseball to watch again on Friday boredom takes over. With boredom comes crazy ideas as we all try to fill our time. So as I tried to fill my time I found a rather silly trade idea.

Photo: Getty Images

I guess once news broke on Tuesday that Manny Machado was about to become a Dodger people started looking for new trade ideas and rumors. So straight out of St. Louis HERE is a new idea post Mike Matheny getting fired. New, yes.....but is it any good? You be the judge.

Photo: Sporting News

Everyone knows the Yankees are looking for pitching, but I think the author of that trade proposal values all players mentioned a lot differently then Yankees fans. The trade proposal mentioned is this: RHP Carlos Martinez to the Yankees for LHP Justus Sheffield, 3B Miguel Andujar, RHP Domingo Acevedo and RHP Cody Carroll. Interesting, right?

Now, the author makes the point that we all know to be true, behind Luis Severino and arguably CC Sabathia the rotation is an area of weakness and yes Sonny Gray can't be trusted. There have been rumors that the Cardinals may consider moving Carlos Martinez if they don't turn things around. They are 7.5 games behind the Cubs in the NL Central and may decide to sell. If so, that would make him an interesting option in a non-existing pitching market. He's not the biggest name but apparently he might be worth a king's ransom according to the trade proposal.

So what is so great about Martinez? He had good years from 2015-2017 and he was an All-Star in two of those seasons. He is a work horse, and has averaged 176 innings in his career hitting his highest 205 innings last season and is a strikeout pitcher. Last season he had 217 strikeouts. He also doesn't give up a lot of home runs except last year he gave up an unusually high amount of home runs at 27, this season he's only given up four. He also doesn't have a long injury history. This may he had a right lat strain that put him on the 10 day disabled list and in September of 2015 he had a right shoulder strain where he was out for 60 days. Nothing too alarming.

So on paper he looks pretty good. It would be interesting to see if he could keep the home runs down at Yankee stadium. He's definitely got some value, but I would argue so do Sheffield and Andujar which the author doesn't seem to be as convinced as we are at BYB. In the proposal, the author is very stuck on their rankings. Sure, Andujar barely cracked the top 100 and Sheffield isn't in MLB's top 25 but as I have stated in other pieces.....rankings are just a number.

Not all top prospects live up to the hype as previously stated in another piece, read THAT ANDUJAR FOR JACOB DEGROM TRADE IDEA IS BACK AGAIN. The ranking stat is completely meaningless after 120 major league at bats and he has been a big reason why the Yankees have been so successful. He's the reason Brandon Drury lost a starting role....and he is a successful big leaguer now, forget about being a prospect.

As for Sheffield, who cares if he isn't in MLB's top 25? The Yoan Moncada comparison comes back again. He was once a top prospect and he didn't pan out. The Red Sox were so unimpressed they shipped him off to the White Sox. Rankings don't mean anything! I will tell you what does mean something though....the Yankees confidence in this kid. The Yankees need pitching right? So trading him for Martinez doesn't accomplish getting and keeping quality pitching long term. Sheffield could be a long term solution for the Yankees and he could be a damn good pitcher.

So, interesting trade proposal, right? I wouldn't say it makes the most sense with the players proposed in the trade but that's what keeps us so interested in the rumor mill. Sorry St. Louis.....if I were a betting woman I would say the best chance that you have at getting a Yankee right now is Joe Girardi as you new skipper.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj

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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