Michael Pineda and the 8 Worst All-Time Starts to a New York Yankees Career
August 20, 2012 · Phil Watson · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
Michael Pineda now has more arrests as a member of the New York Yankees than he does appearances on the mound.
The 23-year-old righthander won’t pitch at all this season as he continues to rehabilitate after shoulder surgery performed in late April to repair a torn labrum (per ESPNNewYork.com). The Yankees acquired Pineda and 20-year-old Jose Campos from the Seattle Mariners on Jan. 23 in exchange for catcher Jesus Montero and pitcher Hector Noesi.
But Pineda struggled throughout spring training with both his weight (he reported 10 pounds over his playing weight of 270) and the 6-foot-7 righthander never found his velocity in Florida. It was a huge disappointment for the Yankees, who were counting on Pineda—who made the All-Star team as a rookie last season—to be a rock in their starting rotation.
Pineda’s awful 2012 season took a turn for the worse early Monday morning when, according to the New York Post, he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol by police in Tampa, Fla. According to a Tampa Police Department report, Pineda “had a fixed gaze and his eyes were bloodshot, watery and glassy.” The officer filing the report said he could “smell a distinct odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from (Pineda’s) breath and his speech was slurred.”
Two separate readings found Pineda’s blood-alcohol level to be .128 and .125, according to the Post report.
Pineda has been undergoing rehabilitation from the April surgery at the Yankee spring training complex in Tampa.
It has certainly been an inauspicious beginning to Pineda’s Yankee career; not at all what was expected from a pitcher who went 9-10 with a 3.74 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 173 strikeouts in 171 innings for the Mariners in 2011.
Pineda is far from alone to getting off to a rocky start in pinstripes. Here are eight of the worst starts to a Yankee career.
Yankee Tickets
Shop Yankee
