Not because they missed seeing anything on the Medical Evaluation pre-trade – there was nothing to see then. But when Pineda arrived in Tampa for Spring Training – he was told that he’d have to compete for a job!!!

Lay that one at the feet of Cashman then Girardi then Rothschild.

By telling the kid he was guaranteed of nothing – that he’d have to light up the charts and graphs and reports to keep a job that at the instant the trade button was pushed – the job was his.

But, nooooo – those Yankee dimwits said, let’s push him along and light a fire under him.

So the kid takes the mound and after a long winter – his body wasn’t quite ready to go full-tilt. Wow – where’s the velocity was the hue and cry on every back page of the New York papers. So what does the kid do -

He pushes himself – pushes him self harder than his body could take – and that readers is when he started to breakdown.

They could have said – you’re slotted in behind CC, or you’re slotted in behind CC and AJ (who they still had at the time), or even you’re slotted in behind CC, Kuroda, Hughes, and Garcia but you have the job.

But they didn’t – instead they lit a fire under the kid – the papers hollered Pineda could even start the season in AAA.

That was why his body said – we need a break – and that’s why he done for the year. I call that over-managing and flawed logic by Cashman and company. We already know how they think -

The Joba Rules – and his arm is cooked
The Phil Hughes Rubberband effect – starter, relief pitcher, starter, relief pitcher – and his arm couldn’t deal with it.
And now Pineda -

I wish they take a page out of the Nolan Ryan book – and let the guys pitch.

However, this defeats the narrative, so many people just conveniently forget the facts.

Again, I’m not saying it was good news by any stretch. But many prognosises (?) seemed optimistic.

Also, the Yankees gave him an MRI prior to the trade and another when he first went on the DL. On the third MRI after his last rehab start there was an obvious tear. If the tear had been there earlier, it would have easily been seen. Maybe the Mariners feared he would hurt himself, but it appears that he did not actually hurt himself until he was under the Yankees care.