Let me preface this article by introducing yet another Guest Poster, my good friend Phil Smeraldo. Phil is the most educated Mariners fan I know and I gave him full reigns to decide the merit of the Pineda trade. Read it and weep.
On Friday January 13th the Seattle Mariners and New York Yankees agreed to a trade in principle that shocked the baseball world. The Seattle Mariners sent All-Star and soon to be second year pitcher Michael Pineda and 19 year old Jose Campos to the New York Yankees for highly touted prospect Jesus Montero and 24 year old Hector Noesi. From everything I have been reading typical fan reaction to this trade from the Mariners perspective has by and large been negative. Many who just casually follow the Mariners see this as just another trade in a long line of trading upper tier talent for unproven prospects that generally do not pan out. These fans will point to trades such as moving Cliff Lee, Erik Bedard, Doug Fister, JJ Putz, and many more. My goal in this post is to break down not only why this is a good, if not great trade for the Mariners, but also the process of analytically examining a trade, taking emotions out of the mix, and boiling it down to just pure numbers and why the Mariners come out ahead in this trade.
So without further ado, lets take a look at what is flying into the Emerald city and what is leaving.
