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Michael Pineda gets bombed in final effort to make Yankees squad

When news came out Thursday that Yankees manager Joe Girardi was considering heading North with a rotation of CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Phil Hughes, Freddy Garcia while leaving either Ivan Nova or Michael Pineda out, it was enough to raise some eyebrows.

Why?

The Yankees spent the off-season expecting that both Nova and Pineda would be mainstays in the Yankees rotation once the 2012 season began. While that may still happen at some point this year, the fact that neither Pineda nor Nova have established themselves this spring leaves the question open as to which will start the year as the Yankees number five starter and which will toil in the minors.

Nova pitched well on Thursday, dropping his astronomical ERA to 6.88, but Pineda was bombed Friday night against the Philadelphia Phillies. Pineda has struggled with his control all spring. He has had a hard time getting his fastball to the upper 90's, and he hasn't truly developed that secondary pitch.

Against Philadelphia in what was likely his final start of the spring, Pineda's fastball was floating, and he rarely hit 94 mph on the radar gun. The line: 2-2/3 innings, seven hits and six earned runs. His ERA jumped to 5.68.

What exactly did the Yankees get in Pineda? The Bombers had traded their top catching prospect, Jesus Montero, to the Seattle Mariners for Seattle's stud number two starter. When the trade went down, it was surprising, considering Seattle was willing to part with a young flamethrower, opting to keep Felix Hernandez, a more experienced pitcher who is not getting any younger, and who is the more logical piece to get traded to a contending team.  Did the Yankees get sold sour goods in Pineda? They better hope not.

The Yankees have to find a way to get Pineda to pitch well on a consistent basis. He has been working on a slider, but he still needs to develop a better change-up, and the Yankees staff has to find a way to get Pineda to hit 97 mph again the way he did in Seattle. Then again, was Pineda's success in 2011 a mirage, and is he on a Dontrelle Willis-like pace? It's a lot of doom and gloom for the 23-year old pitcher which is not a fair assessment but when a young pitcher's velocity and control hits a wall it makes people begin to wonder.

The Yankees rotation entering 2012 is also fragile at best. Betting on the inconsistent Kuroda, Hughes and Garcia is playing a game of Russian Roulette, a gamble that will look much worse IF Pineda and Nova do not get on the ball here quickly.

Granted Andy Pettitte is tossing down in the minor leagues, waiting to return in May, but who knows how much he truly has left at age 39? If the future of the Yankees IS Pineda and Nova, which they tried to "sell" to their fans in the off-season, then the time is now for both (not one) to step it up big time.

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