It was over two years ago that the Yankees swapped youthful designated hitter disguised as a catcher Jesus Montero to the Mariners for starting pitcher Michael Pineda. The reason it’s worth bringing up now, on a non-anniversary of the deal, is because the Mariners have recalled Montero to the majors for the first time since May of last season. Pineda, meanwhile, is fresh off of a setback in his rehab.
Jesus Montero is back, Michael Pineda missing, and no one has won that trade yet
It’s probably safer if you don’t read this, lest something cartoonishly awful happen to you like happened to everyone in this trade.
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Everyone associated with this deal has done nothing but fail since it happened.
In those two years, Montero has batted .252/.293/.377 for an 89 OPS+ in 164 major-league games. He was one of the players suspended 50 games for his involvement with Biogenesis last year, a suspension he served while recovering on the disabled list from knee surgery that had initially cut his campaign short. He’s now become a DH who can’t hit, a 24-year-old lacking the shine and promise that was on him when he first got to Seattle three seasons ago.
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Pineda is barely in better shape, as he’s thrown 19-2/3 innings for the Yankees over the course of three seasons with the team, all coming this year. He underwent labrum surgery before the 2012 season began, then spent the entirety of 2013 recovering from the same procedure. He’s been on the DL since the start of May with a different shoulder problem, and has had multiple setbacks in his recovery to the point where his return is once again in question. All of that means that these two have not been on an active big-league roster at the same time since before the trade occurred.
They weren’t the only two in the swap, either. Hector Noesi also went to the Mariners, and while pitcher-friendly Safeco seemed like a safe place for an arm like Noesi’s with some promise, he was crushed, and has been with two organizations since his departure for Seattle: while he was around league average in his initial Yankees’ campaign, he’s posted a 5.81 ERA since. Jose Campos went along with Pineda to New York, and while the 20-year-old had a solid 2013 campaign, he underwent Tommy John surgery in April of this year, knocking him and his development out of the picture for a while.
It’s all rather depressing, but maybe Montero will help change the tone of this deal a little in this opportunity being given him. You probably shouldn’t hope too much, though, given everything we’ve seen in the last couple of years.
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