Here is the deal as it looks right now. Michael Pineda and Jose Campos are being traded to the Yankees and in return we got Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi. A very fair but interesting swap. Not all the details have been released. There are still reports coming in and it probably won’t be finalized until Sunday. At this point and it’s hard to say one way or another that this is a “bad” or “good” trade.
Having Jose Campos also apart of this deal kind of makes me flinch. Initially, my reaction had me shaking my head at the thought of losing Jose Campos as I really like him and think he was one of the better pitchers in the Mariners minor league system. The fact is he’s only 19 years old and while we would all love him to be the next Felix Hernandez or Michael Pineda, he’s just not that at this point. Though, as I stated on twitter, his future is incredibly bright and I anticipate that being a sincere disappointment of this trade in the future.
There is Hector Noesi, who is basically another Erasmo Ramirez, but with better stuff. His fastball velocity sits around 93 and his slider and change-up combo looks like it’s been progressing. He was moved to the bullpen last year and I wonder what the Mariners might do with Noesi and suspect they will give him an opportunity in the rotation, but most likely he’ll end up in the bullpen.
I don’t think this is “the move” but rather a piece of the off-season puzzle. I could be wrong, but I’m holding my breath right now with the thought that this isn’t the whole context and to judge this single trade we’re going to need a better picture to say one way or another how smart this move is.