Michael Pineda Out For the Season and Now the Yankees Need Even More Starting Pitching Help

By Djack

Well, if you didn't think we needed to add a starter before this news broke, I'm sure your mind has changed. Michael Pineda, will miss the rest of the season with a torn UCL and will have to undergo Tommy John surgery. In other words, the Michael Pineda era in New York is finally over. What a long stressful relationship it was with Big Mike. It was mostly frustrating because you knew he was capable of great things, just watch the movement on all his pitches, but he could never quite keep it together mentally, and was inconsistent for all of his time in New York. It's safe to say he won't be missed by many, if any New York Yankee fans.

Pineda hadn't been awful this season like in years past. He actually was able to maintain an ERA under 4 and had 8 wins for us before the all star break. Now, the Yankees need someone to come in and either match that production or produce more than Pineda if the Yankees want to have any shot at making the postseason.

Here's some options the Yankees have for boosting this depleted rotation. First off they can try to just promote a guy like Chance Adams to replace Pineda, although they already needed another legit starter before Pineda went down, so I think they'll have to promote Chance Adams regardless. Tanaka, Severino, Sabathia, Montgomery, and Adams might be what they go with going forward, however if they really want to make a run this year they'll look to add a big time arm to replace Sabathia or Adams if he doesn't prove he can shut down big league lineups like he has been at every level in the minors. Sonny Gray and Gerritt Cole seem to have drawn some interest by the Yankees, however getting either of them will cost the Yankees a number of prospects. I'd rather avoid that route, hope that somehow CC returns to early season form and that Chance Adams is a stud at the big league level. Unfortunately, that might not be a realistic expectation, and we may have to give up some prospects to acquire an already established pitcher to help us get to October.

Cashman is yet to let me down in the past two season with any moves he's made improving the team, so I trust him to make the right move this time around as well. I'm in no rush to mortgage the farm to try and make a World Series run this year, I know we've already exceeded expectations this year, and I'm not going to rush a process that has been so good to us Yankee fans. Just enjoy the second half, watch our young guys continue to develop and improve, and hopefully the squad we have right now is enough to win the AL East or at least get a wildcard berth. It's all a learning process for these young guys so as long as we're playing competitive baseball I couldn't be happier with the direction of this team. Now, let's sit back and watch Cashman work his magic.