Should the Mariners trade Pineda?

[Superhuskiefan1]

Here's Dave Cameron's response to the criticism of the Pineda trade idea, posted from USSMariner.com:

I get that a lot of people think the idea of trading Michael Pineda away is crazy. It’s just not something you see teams do – in almost every case, they keep their best young players around and hope for the best. But, let me turn the tables and present the question in a slightly different manner.

Let’s say that the team was in exactly the same position in the standings that they are right now at 39-42, 4 games out of first place. However, instead of Jack Cust struggling at DH, they had 24-year-old Yonder Alonso, a left-handed hitting line drive guy with some upside. Instead of Adam Kennedy and Chone Figgins platooning at third base, they had 25-year-old Todd Frazier adding some right-handed power to the line-up. The rotation featured a 24-year-old lefty in Travis Wood who had racked up +3.2 WAR in 196 innings at the big league level and was a perfect fit for Safeco Field. And, down on the farm, the best prospect in the system was a 22-year-old switch-hitting catcher with patience and power, the fruit of the team’s high selection in the first round a year ago.

Would anyone here really be suggesting that the Mariners trade three guys off their Major League roster and their best prospect remaining in the minors – one of the very best catching prospects in the game, by the way – for a starting pitcher? Anyone?

...

I get that watching Michael Pineda is exciting, and dreaming of what he could be is one of the most fun things about being a Mariner fan right now. However, if the tables were flipped and Pineda was already in Cincinnati, and the Mariners had Grandal, Alonso, Frazier, and Wood in the organization, I just don’t think we’d be seeing massive support for trading them all away to acquire Pineda and build an uber-rotation. I think the reaction to that suggestion would be something along the lines of “the pitching is already very good, why create huge holes on the roster to upgrade the strength of the team?”

I’m just saying that if you wouldn’t make the trade if the tables were turned, then maybe it’s not such a crazy idea after all.

This guy is supposed to be "one of the smartest" MLB bloggers? What a friggin' idiot. None of those players he mentioned have proven themselves at the MLB level. Pineda is pitching extremely well at the highest level. If the smartest baseball blogger out there can promise me that all of these players will be good MLB players then his comparison is apt. Oh, and I love how he condescendingly says "I get that watching Michael Pineda is exciting" as though the fans disagreeing with him haven't considered the facts of his proposal and are just blinded by Pineda's pretty pitches.

Can you "promise" that Pineda will be as good or better next year? That players won't adjust to his pitching when an in depth scouting report exists? That he won't get hurt?

Michael Pineda has proved himself for all of 16 MLB games. That means he's played 16 more MLB games than any MiLB prospect. He's not an All-Star (yet) and he hasn't pitched over 150 innings anywhere. Until he's pitched 2-3 full years at the highest level he's still a bit of an unknown. Baseball is a game of inconsistencies and 16 games is not a large enough sample size to draw long term conclusions.

When talking about prospects AND rookies you are still dealing almost entirely in speculation.

Well the same can be said about the 3 reds players. They havent played really in the mlb how do we know they wont become busts either???