Michael Pineda nears return to New York Yankees rotation
By Hayden Kane
The New York Yankees would enthusiastically welcome any and all upgrades to their beat-up starting rotation. It was with that in mind, after all, that they pursued any number of trades for starting pitching help at this past week’s deadline.
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While nothing came about as a follow-up to the moves they made to acquire Brandon McCarthy and Chris Capuano, the Yankees very well might be on their way to getting some help internally.
Not only might they be getting help; they are reportedly close to adding a guy to the mix who pitched pretty darn well before going on the shelf with an injury, pine tar incidents not withstanding.
According to Buster Olney, Michael Pineda is getting closer to a return from a strained back and could be back in the Yankees’ rotation within 10 days.
Michael Pineda's velocity topped out at 94 mph in his 3 1/3 inning rehab start today. If all goes well, could be back in rotation in 10 days
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) August 3, 2014
When Pineda does return nothing is guaranteed. Unfortunately his young career has already been held back by enough injuries for the Yankees to know better than to take for granted that he will be able to stick in the rotation through August, September, and potentially October.
If he can, however, it adds another quality arm to the mix. Through an admittedly tiny sample size of four starts in 2014, Pineda had a 1.83 ERA and 15 strikeouts. He would be an unproven pitcher in the heat of a playoff race, but that is surely a risk the Yankees are willing to take given the state of their rotation.