Another Lesson Learned Too Late

So I hope you all see what the Yankees did tonight.

No, screw that. I hope Omar Minaya saw what the Yankees did tonight.

No, screw that too. Because even if Omar learns his lesson, he’ll just apply it to another baseball team anyway.

The Yankees traded their top prospect and next in line for a Yankee-o-graphy, Jesus Montero, for Mariners flame thrower Michael Pineda. Pineda (along with Hiroki Kuroda, who the Yankees also signed) helps flesh out a suspect rotation. This came at the price of Montero, who came up to New York surrounded by whispers of his catching ability and his ceiling which some had said he has already reached and then went on a hot streak which drove his price up. They turned 18 games and 69 plate appearances into a potential ace. While it’s no sure thing (Pineda himself only has a year in the bigs, and he comes to a hitters park to put it very mildly), the Yankees turned their top prospect into, at the very worst, another top prospect.

Whether the trade works out or not (and nothing is a sure thing), the Yankees sold high, and received value. Can’t ask for more than that. It’s certainly a lot better than turning Lastings Milledge into Ryan Church and Brian Schneider, then turning Church into Jeff Francoeur, then Francoeur into Joaquin “True Met” Arias for a month.

And it’s certainly better than turning Scott Kazmir into Victor Zambrano. (And before you respond with “BUT KAZMIRE SUCKS AND IS OUT OF BASEBALL!!!!111”, the point is that Kazmir was the top Mets prospect when he was traded for Zambrano. Not another top prospect, not a star player in his prime, but Victor Zambrano. I will not explain this again.)

See where I’m going? Now do you all see what I’ve been saying since I was five years old? (Okay, thirty-five.)

Epilogue: The Yankees, now needing a DH, sign Prince Fielder, and they only pay Fielder in corn because Fielder is a “vegetarian“. But Fielder will then plant those corn to grow a whole corn field, a field of dreams if you will, where prospects will appear out of nowhere to come play for the Yankees. The Padres, under Omar Minaya’s enhanced leadership, will be N.L. West champs within five years.

Matt Harvey will debut for the Mets in September 2013, and set the baseball world on fire. He’ll then be traded for Jack Wilson that November.