Boston's Daniel Bard, who's learning to become a major-league starter, and the Yankees' Michael Pineda, who's learning to become the subject of the New York sports media, may be headed for very different destinations, based in part on what happened Friday.
Bard, despite giving up three runs in six innings against the generally banjo-hitting Twins (and despite lugging around a 6.57 ERA for the spring), may have improved his fortunes by striking out seven on the day. Presently, he's battling Alfredo Aceves and Doubront for one of two available spots in the Boston rotation.
While manager Bobby Valentine hasn't yet given his marching orders, he's sounding like Bard might have pitched his way in on Friday. "It hasn’t really been made,” Valentine told the Springfield Republican's Nick Underhill of his forthcoming choice on Bard's role. “I think the decision that he could start has been made – that he’s capable of starting.”
Elsewhere in the AL East, Pineda appears to be fighting for his 25-man-roster life. On Friday, the Phillies cuffed around Pineda for six runs over 2.2 innings, and his Grapefruit League ERA now stands at 5.68. As Marc Carig of the Newark Star-Ledger tweeted, scouts were as unimpressed as the Philly hitters. Ongoing concerns about Pineda's decreased velocity also can't help matters, and CBSSports.com Insider Jon Heyman reports that Pineda will soon undergo an MRI on his throwing shoulder, which caused him some discomfort after Friday's rough outing. So the worst may be yet to come.
On a structural level, working against Pineda is the Yankee rotation depth and the fact that he still has minor-league options remaining. If Pineda is indeed dispatched to the minors, then the thinking is probably that he'll fare better getting sorted out minus all the breathless attention. Or maybe he'll go on the DL instead.
Yet switch their uniforms, and it's Pineda whose spot in the major-league rotation would be secure, and it's Bard who would be on his way to the bullpen or perhaps even Triple-A (he also has options, and the Yankees aren't exactly hurting for right-handed relief). In reality, too, Bard and Pineda seem bound for very different places.
If Pineda doesn't break camp with the big guys, then surely more than one New York scribe will eulogize the Pineda-Jesus Montero trade as a magnificent failure from the Yankee standpoint. You and I, however, should give it time.
