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New York Yankees Editorial: Why Michael Pineda Needs to be the Yankees Work Horse

By Matt Curran

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Saturday was Michael Pineda’s first start since July 10th, and that is a very long break for starting pitchers. Every player reacts differently to the extra rest. Michael Pineda is not a big fan of the extra rest, as he got the loss on Saturday after a long rest period.

"‘He’s a guy that likes to work,’ said manager Joe Girardi. ‘You can look at his struggles today: He gave up the two in the first, he made a mistake and then he kind of settled in the second through the fifth and made another mistake in the sixth. It’s not like he got bombed.’"

When Pineda has these long rest, you can tell that his fastballs is a bit harder, than on usual rest. The problem with the long rest is Michael Pineda’s slider. The slider is not as sharp with the long rest, and for Pineda to be the dominant starter the slider needs to be sharp.

Pineda’s last start he ran into the bat of former Yankee, Robinson Cano. Pineda gave up four total runs, and all four RBI’s came from Cano’s bat. Brian McCann, who caught the game for the Yankees, talked about how Pineda had a better start then the numbers may tell.

"‘He pitched good,’ McCann said. ‘Cano hit a mistake that was up and hit it out to dead-center field, which is hard to do. The second homer caught a little more of the plate than we wanted. I don’t think he struggled. You had one of the better hitters in the game, and he’s starting to swing the bat a lot better. Take those away we’re looking seventh, eighth inning with no runs.’"

Michael Pineda is on an innings limit, and to have him pitch in the post season he will have to skip a couple starts here and there. The problem becomes his slider is not as sharp with the long rest. This situation is a real catch 22.

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