Custom Card of the Day: Montero Edition

Immediately after I realized the results of the Montero-Pineda deal, I came across one conclusion- It's the Austin Jackson dilemma all over again!

You see, two years ago, I was intent on the fact that Austin Jackson would be the Yankees' starting centerfielder, after ending his 2009 campaign with a grand slam in spring training, and the subsequent departures of Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui. So the outfield was supposed to be Gardner, Jackson and some other guy we'd acquire, most likely Randy Winn (grr)

Then, Granderson came to New York...for Austin Jackson. And I was shocked. Jackson was our centerfielder, and now...he was Detroit's. So the entire year, I was debating which acquisition was better: us with Granderson, or them with Jackson. And at the end of the year, I was wrong. Granderson had the better year, and last year he had a MVP Campaign, only curtailed by the fact that Justin Verlander had the greatest pitching year since the 60's. Jackson...has been slumping ever since.

So I promised myself I would never make the same mistake again. Of course, this was a promise I'd fail to keep. It's like watching a horror movie, and, near the end, saying "Gee, no one else is going to die. Not even that heroic guy, who's on his last day before retirement."

Speaking on those terms, Jesus Montero got whacked in the last ten minutes. And the killer's name was Michael Pineda.

So yeah, I'm still bummed that Montero was shipped off to Seattle, where he's basically one of the team's few stars. But we do have Pineda now, and he'll hopefully be pretty good. And still, I'll be hoping that Montero has a good year.

But not too good.

Coming Tomorrow- The First Dodger of the year. And man, if he doesn't have a season like last year, the fans will kill him (that could be any one of them).

My God...what have we done???

I first heard of the monumental, catastrophic trade on Facebook. My two Yankee fans who I am friends with were saying something about Michael Pineda.

Hang on...what? Michael Pineda, a Yankee? THAT'S AWESOME! The man came close to a Rookie of the Year season last year, and the Yankees need pitching.

So I check ESPN to see who they traded him for. And I wasn't happy.

You see the Mariners gave up their future for us. Unfortunately, we had to give up ours. Jesus Montero is now a Seattle Mariner.

The smile faded instantly.

(It should be mentioned that Hector Noesi was also involved in the trade, but nobody cares about him.)

You see, I was looking forward to Jesus Montero sporting pinstripes on a daily basis after the impending departure of Russell Martin. I saw him as our catcher, the same way I saw Austin Jackson as our centerfielder and Ian Kennedy as our fifth starter. But nothing ever goes the way it planned. So right now, we have Russell Martin, we have Austin Romine, and that's about it.

That's the downside. That's a pretty big downside.

There's also a really big upside. Because Seattle gave up their future too.

Michael Pineda, if it weren't for King Felix, would have been the best Mariner on the team last year. He had a tremendous, ROY worthy season, even to the point of voting him in 30Year's contest as the most worthy contender.

Fortunately, we needed pitching. After CC, we have two pitchers that are semi reliable, two pitchers that were reliable last year (one of which we resigned), and the Killer B's waiting in the wings. Now, we have insurance so that when Hughes and Burnett are not their best, there will be someone in the rotation after CC, and before Garcia, Betances and the rest.

Also, Pineda's a really good pitcher. We needed really good pitching. End of story.

In summary, Jesus Montero was meant to be the Yankee catcher. Now, he will reside as the Seattle catcher, and whenever he has a great game, instead of my dad reporting the news it will be my Mariner loving uncle. On the upside, we have Michael Pineda. And that's pretty good.

Of course, this trade may not work. It could be a steal for Seattle. I could be writing ten years from now, and saying "remember when I said trading Pineda for Jesus would be a good idea? Disavow that."

But you never know. It is baseball.

Custom Card of the Day: Montero Edition

He's one of the biggest catching prospects in the Bronx since Posada- how could I NOT make a custom of him? I was watching the game he had against Baltimore, where he decked two homers over the wall, giving him his first two career home runs. I was thinking "Man, he's going to be huge". Hopefully I'm right. No offense to Russell Martin, All Star and solid defensive catcher, but Jesus Montero can hit. And you cannot.

I hope this guy ends up being huge for the Yanks...and that he lives up to his potential.

Coming Tomorrow- Here's where I'm stumped. Should I even post a custom tomorrow, being that it's the 10th anniversary of 9/11? Would it be breaking the moment if I did?