Art Imitating Life?

The most traded players in The Sporting News fantasy baseball right now are two guys who were actually traded for each other this offseason. 

The Mariners dealt Michael Pineda for Jesus Montero this winter in a classic swap of young pitching for young hitting.  Fantasy baseballers are getting antsy with the kids and moving them from their fake teams as well.  Although presumably not for each other.

As long as we're on the topic, Larry Stone, via the Seattle Times, published an interested read on the trade as spring training was coming to a close.  Here it is in case you missed it. 

Stone wrote: "It might be four or five years before Campos is ready to crack a major-league rotation. By that time, we should have a good idea if Montero is the right-handed power threat the Mariners so desperately need, if Noesi developed into a quality starter, and if Pineda lived up to the vast promise of his rookie season.

In other words, by 2016, we should start to get a feel for who won the Pineda/Montero trade."

He's probably right.  But it definitely feels good to have Montero in the Mariner lineup rather than an injured Pineda on the DL. 

Mariners Represented on James' Top Pitchers Duels for 2011

Mariner fans enjoyed 3 of the top 21 pitching duels in 2011, according to Bill James.  James just published his list of the 100 best pitchers duels of 2011 on ESPN's Grantland site. 

The August 31, 2011 battle between Felix Hernandez and Dan Haren ranked 19 on the list.  From the Grantland article:

Hernandez pitched a five-hitter, struck out nine, but the Angels manufactured a run against him in the third, and Haren made it stand up until the bottom of the eighth. He got two out in that inning and then Scioscia pulled him after two singles, and a Mariner rookie with a windmill swing doubled them home off the reliever. Seattle 2, Angels 1.

2011 performances by Jason Vargas, Doug Fister and Michael Pineda also made the list.

Pineda to the Yankees!

Pineda mania was short lived in Seattle.  The Mariners have agreed to send right-hander Michael Pineda to New York in exchange for top prospect Jesus Montero, CBSSports.com's Jon Heyman reports.  The Mariners will also get right-hander Hector Noesi, while right-hander Jose Campos goes the Yankees, Heyman reports.

Mariner fans have been screaming for a big bat all offseason.  Is Montero the answer?  Montero has some success in a handful of big league games last year, hitting .326 with an OPS of .996 in just 18 games.  In 109 minor league games in 2011 (AAA) he hit 18 HR with an OPS of .815.