The Seattle Mariners have acquired 22-year old righty swinging C/DH Jesus Montero and 24-year old righty reliever/starter Hector Noesi from the Yankees for 22-year old righty starting pitcher Michael Pineda and 19-year old righty starting pitcher Jose Campos. Jesus Montero came into the 2011 season as the Yankees’ #1 prospect according to Baseball America. He played in 18 games for the Yankees in his first taste of the majors last year and he was 20 for 61 (.328 avg, .996 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 4 homers and 12 RBIs. He also played in 109 games in AAA-ball last year and he was 121 of 420 (.288 avg, .814 OPS) with 52 runs scored, 18 homers and 67 RBIs. It’s not clear if the Mariners will play Montero at catcher or use him as the DH, but one thing is for certain……he’s going to be playing somewhere because they need his bat. Hector Noesi will get a shot this spring to replace Michael Pineda in the starting rotation. Noesi pitched in 30 games (2 starts) for the Yankees last year (his first taste of the majors) and he was 2-2 with a 4.47 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP. He also pitched in 6 games (5 starts) in AAA-ball last year and he was 1-1 with a 3.28 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP.

It was kind of shocking to me that the Mariners were willing to trade Michael Pineda. Pineda made the All-Star team last season and he was fifth in the voting for the A.L. Rookie of the Year Award. He pitched in 28 games (all starts) for the Mariners last year and he was 9-10 with a 3.74 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP. He only gave up 133 hits in 171 innings last year while whiffing 173 batters as he has dominating stuff. Jose Campos pitched in 14 games (all starts) in A-ball last year and he was 5-5 with a 2.32 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP. He pitched in 40 games (30 starts) in his first three years in the minors and he was 14-10 with 1 save, a 3.26 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP.

This trade could help both teams as the Mariners were desperate for hitting while the Yankees needed help in the starting rotation. It took a lot of guts to trade a pitcher with Pineda’s upside.