Should the Yankees Extend Pineda and Eovaldi?

Remember when the New York Yankees traded the can’t miss Jesus Montero for the power-arm Michael Pineda? How about when the Yankees traded the versatility of both David Phelps and Martin Prado for Nathan Eovaldi and prospects? These two moves were made to bolster the Yankees’ rotation with young, high-upside arms to go forward with.

Now, on Friday, the Yankees must exchange salary figures with both players because it is the deadline before the arbitration hearings. It is a tough situation because neither the players nor the organization want to go to an arbitration hearing. It becomes even more difficult to find a middle ground between negotiations when one player has struggled with injuries and has limited appearances, and the other hasn’t even had a practice in pinstripes yet.

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Pineda has been dominant in his limited time in the big leagues, but how much money and how many years does that deem? I wouldn’t necessarily say there was a winner in that trade between the Seattle Mariners and Yankees, but if I had to choose it would definitely be the Yankees. Montero has barely played for the Mariners and has had a hard time staying in shape.

In his 76.1 innings in 2014, Pineda put up a stellar 1.89 ERA and had 59 strike outs. Even in his limited amount of action, he still posted a 2.7 WAR. It is such a small sample size, especially considering he has been a Yankee since the end of the 2011 season, but it is enough to make you salivate thinking of what he can do with a full season.

The Yankees need pitching and they have a 25-year old, dominant pitcher in the rotation. What is not to love? Think back to 2011 when Pineda came on to the scene with an explosion. In that rookie season, he threw 171 innings and finished with a 3.74 ERA. He had a 9.1 K/9 and finished with 9 wins. He may be worth giving a contract extension to and it wouldn’t be too costly. Something in the three-year range, for around $7 million would not be that far-fetched. It is a win-win situation for the Yankees. If Pineda remains strong, then the Yankees locked him up for cheap and if he flops then no harm done.

Nathan Eovaldi hasn’t done anything for the Yankees yet so it is a bit of a tougher situation. They are being asked to pay a player for a service he hasn’t done for them. However, in the same situation as the Pineda discussions, it could potentially be the opportunity for the Yankees to lock up a major need for cheap. Eovaldi had his first full season as a starter in 2014 and it was a roller coaster nonetheless.

The hard-throwing righty is only 24 and logged 199.2 innings last season. It was a growing season and it gave him plenty of opportunities to work out the kinks. He learned what works and what doesn’t work in the Majors. Eovaldi will look to add on to his foundation of work from ’14 with a fresh start in the Bronx.

He gave up the most hits in the National League in 2014 with 223. If he wants to be successful, he will need to limit the amount of hits he gives up to opponents. The hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium will not be as generous as the large Marlins Park.  Look for the Yankees to give Eovaldi a deal similar to Pineda’s with a two-year $8 million deal.