Did the Seattle Mariners really lose the Jesus Montero for Michael Pineda trade?

The Seattle Mariners needed hitters and was expecting a young group of pitchers in 2012

Seattle Mariners fans were hoping to add free-agent Prince Fielder in 2012 to bolster its offense, but trading for Montero took away the burden of paying for Fielder. The previous 2011 season was a nightmare for Seattle’s offense. The idea was that the young Jesus Montero would be able to grow alongside Dustin Ackley, Mike Carp, and Justin Smoak.

For the Yankees, Montero was an expendable prospect because Austin Romine was in Triple-A and Russell Martin was just selected as an All-Star with the Yankees. It was a similar story for the Seattle Mariners who had young talent in the minor leagues. Although Michael Pineda has a great 2011 rookie season and made the All-Star team, general manager Jack Zduriencik thought it was worth trading away Pineda for an offensive asset.

At the time, fans were excited about a Felix Hernandez and Michael Pineda duo at the front of the starting rotation, which led to so many disappointed fans when they heard Pineda was sent to the Bronx. But, Jack Zduriencik was lining up three draft prospects to join the starting rotation soon. These pitchers were: Danny Hultzen, Taijuan Walker, and James Paxton.

These pitchers were still very new and young, but the hope was that they would join the team soon enough. Danny Hultzen never panned out due to injuries, Walker was good, and Paxton was better. So to recap, the trade made sense a lot at the time. The Mariners were hoping Montero would become the offensive savior to build around while making room for the next crop of young pitchers.

Now, let’s examine how the trade turned out looking back on it.

Jesus Montero was a part of the Seattle Mariners organization for four seasons and only had one good season

After joining the Seattle Mariners prior to the 2012 regular season, Jesus Montero played pretty well and gave fans a lot of hope. He was 22-years-old at the time, and played 135 games, and batted .260. He had an unimpressive .685 OPS, but managed to hit 15 home runs and 62 RBIs. I think fans were expecting a little more from him, but he posted reasonable numbers in his first full MLB season.

In the next season, he struggled to start the season and would end up being suspended for 50-games as a result of the MLB investigation involving PEDs. This obviously shocked the Mariners fan base, and when Montero returned, he was not the same player they acquired in 2012. He was with the Mariners until the end of the 2015 season, and did not play for another MLB team again.

Although Montero’s career made the trade look bad for the Mariners, Pineda also had his struggles which sort of evens out the trade, in my mind. Pineda did not pitch until 2014 for the Yankees because of various injuries. In 2012, he dealt with tendinitis in his shoulder, and then an anterior labral tear which required surgery,

In 2013, he was still recovering from shoulder surgery and after being activated, he began his comeback in the minor leagues. Finally, in 2014, he earned the fifth spot on the rotation but Pineda also was involved in controversy after being suspended for having substances on his hand while pitching.

While serving his suspension, Pineda developed a strain in his teres major muscle but would return towards the end of the season and finished with an impressive 1.89 ERA in 13 starts. Pineda stayed with the Yankees until the end of the 2017 season, but he never found his Seattle Mariners All-Star ways while battling through all of his injuries.

So looking back, the trade was not as bad as it seems. Pineda did not particularly pitch well for the Yankees and Montero did not last very long for the Mariners. The two other players involved in the trade made no impact either. I will say though that Michael Pineda is still pitching in the MLB, while Jesus Montero was done after 2015.

The Jesus Montero and Michael Pineda trade was highly criticized but when you look at it again, the trade canceled itself out and was not all that impressive for either team. Who knows what would have happened if the Mariners kept Pineda and signed Prince Fielder instead of trading for Montero? What we do know is that the trade ended up being a bust for both parties.