Pineda To Miss 2012..WHAT???

While I was out chasing that little white ball around this afternoon, the Yankees were informing the press that Micheal Pineda will miss the entire 2012 season due to a torn labrum.

I remember the day I heard of the trade that sent Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi to Seattle for Pineda and a prospect. I was sad to see Montero go, but ecstatic to get a young stud pitcher like Pineda. Now I sit here wondering if Pineda has a future.

According to mlb.com's Bryan Hoch, Pineda will undergo arthroscopic surgery on Tuesday to repair the anterior labral tear. The operation will be performed by Dr. David Altchek (with assistance from Yankees' team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad) at the Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC.

Now the first thing you are thinking is, "Did Seattle send damaged goods?" Brian Cashman emphatically told the press "No" when queried on the subject.

"We had the opportunity to do a full physical exam, which we did, which came out clean. Michael has never had a shoulder issue nor has he complained of one with the Mariners, nor has he ever had any tests on the shoulder with the Mariners. This is just an unfortunate circumstance that can happen. It happened."

Cashman also reported on Pineda's current mental state:

"He's down. I can tell you that obviously he's someone with a bright future that has a lot of things going through his mind about what his future is going to be. He'll get the best medical care possible." 

Pineda raised eyebrows when he reported to Spring Training overweight and lacked velocity on his fastball. Normally lighting up the radar gun in the mid-90's and occassionally higher, Pineda's not-so-fast fastball was clocked at 90-91 mph and didn't improve as camp went on.

It wasn't until he was forced to leave a game against the Phillies on March 30, that the Yankees learned Pineda had been troubled by a sore shoulder for weeks. Afraid of losing out on a spot in the rotation, Pineda kept his mouth shut and tried to pitch past the pain, which was originally evaluated as tendinitis. When Pineda had a bullpen session shut down due to pain this past weekend, the Yankees sent him for an MRI with contrast and that's when the tear was discovered.

The Yankees are optomistic that Pineda will make a full recovery and be back on the mound in a year's time. (Based on what we know from Michael's MRI scan, there is a discrete tear," Ahmad said. "We do feel that tear can be repaired arthroscopically. Based on that, we're optimistic that we can get him recovered."). In the meantime, the Yankees will count on Andy Pettitte's comeback to fill the hole left by Pineda and the ineffective performance, thus far, by Freddy Garcia.