Three Possible Pittsburgh Pirates Trades With The New York Yankees

The Pittsburgh Pirates acquire Michael Pineda from the New York Yankees for Lefty Reliever Tony Watson.

Michael Pineda’s 2016 line consisted of a 6-12 win/loss record, 4.82 earned run average, 3.79 FIP, and 207 strikeouts in 175.2 innings pitched.  He averaged 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings pitched but gave up 27 home runs in his 32 starts.

The Pittsburgh Pirates took on a Yankee pitcher who struggled in the AL East in Ivan Nova and could again.  Michael Pineda has never lived up to the hype that he received as a promising rookie back in 2011.  In fact, over the last two seasons with the Yankees Pineda has posted earned run averages over 4.25.

So why would the Pittsburgh Pirates want him?  First off, the Bucs have had success working with struggling pitchers who have dominant stuff, see Aj Burnett, Edison Volquez, and Ivan Nova.  Secondly, like Nova, Pineda was bitten by the home run ballparks the AL East last year giving up 27 bombs.  What is telling is that Pineda gave up 20 of his home runs at Yankee Stadium.  Apparently, his style of pitching will not work in Yankee Stadium.

Ivan Nova had home run issues last year before joining the Pittsburgh Pirates.  At first, we saw why as he gave up a lot of flyballs.  However, the National League stadiums are much more spacious than Yankee Stadium, and the fly balls were held inside the park.

Pineda would receive the same benefit and would see his poor numbers improve. Pineda also sported a solid groundball rate of 45 percent last year, proving that he can not only strike hitters out.  This is something the Bucs look for.   In general, Pineda has also been struck by bad luck, pitching in a launching pad stadium, and having poor defense behind him.  His results would immediately improve as a Pirate and his numbers would likely be closer to his 2016 FIP of 3.7.

For the Yankees, they would receive the last piece of their bullpen.  It has been well publicized that the Yankees want their bullpen to have a dominant last three like they did in 2016.  With a tighter budget, acquiring Watson would allow them to have a dominant three as well as saving the club money.  Watson is going to make a modest six million dollars or so, and he has been one of the most effective lefty relievers in baseball over his career.

Meanwhile, this would open up an opportunity for one of their younger arms to get a chance to start like Bryan Mitchell or allow them to sign a free agent starter.  The Yankees would save some money also as Watson projects at about 5.9 million while Pineda projects to get around 7.8 million.