Yankees Acquire Pineda, Sign Kuroda: Re-Ranking the AL Starting Rotations

It seems as if the New York Yankees weren't sleeping during this offseason after all. It has been confirmed via MLB that the Yankees will send top hitting prospect Jesus Montero, along with Hector Noesi, to the Seattle Mariners for top pitching prospect Michael Pineda, along with Jose Campos.

Just minutes after that deal was announced, the Yankees confirmed that they signed pitcher Hiroki Kuroda to a one-year deal worth $10 million.

Pineda pitched his first major league season in Seattle during 2011 and ended with a 9-10 record and a 3.54 ERA. He was elected to the All-Star Game and finished fifth in the AL Rookie of the Year voting.

He is a strikeout pitcher, mowing down 173 batters by way of the K in 171 innings pitched. His 9.1 K/9 ranked second among AL pitchers last season.

Kuroda finished his fourth season with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2011, winning 13 games and posting a near sub-3.00 ERA. He eclipsed the 200-innings-pitched mark for the first time in his major league career and also set a career high with 161 strikeouts.

Kuroda did allow 24 home runs last season, and it will be interesting to see how well he does with the short porch in right field at Yankee Stadium. 

These two deals greatly improve the New York starting rotation, throwing them into the mix with CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova, A.J. Burnett, Freddy Garcia and Phil Hughes. Not to mention that these moves also put a lot of pressure on the other AL East teams. 

Let's look at the new AL starting rotation rankings now that Pineda and Kuroda are on their way to the New York Yankees.

14. Kansas City Royals

Projected Starters: Hochevar, Sanchez, Chen, Duffy, Paulino

The Royals really don't have a good set of starting pitchers in any way, shape or form. They are very young and need a lot more time to develop. Bruce Chen is the only veteran in the staff and also led the team in wins last season (12).

Don't expect any of these five to win more than 13 games in 2012, either.

Prospect Mike Montgomery should arrive in Kansas City sometime in the upcoming season which could help the Royals a little. They have a lot of talent in the minor leagues, but that won't be in the majors for the next few years.

13. Baltimore Orioles

Projected Starters: Guthrie, Hunter, Britton, Matusz, Wada

Baltimore was able to sign Japanese Tsuyoshi Wada to a two-year deal, which can hopefully help their poor rotation. No pitcher won more than 11 games last season (Britton), and they are also another young team that needs more experience before becoming truly effective in a very difficult AL East. 

Baltimore's top prospect, Dylan Bundy, could be called up sometime during the season, but he won't have a huge impact on the team immediately. Baseball America projects Bundy to lead the Orioles' staff in 2015.

12. Oakland Athletics

Projected Starters: McCarthy, Moscoso, Braden, Anderson, Outman

Oakland GM Billy Beane sees his Athletics going through a rebuilding stage and has already shipped Gio Gonzalez and Trevor Cahill to National League teams. This will truly hurt the Athletics, at least in the present, as they wait for the prospects they acquired to move up in the organization's minor league system.

McCarthy will lead the staff even though he only won nine games in 2011.

The Athletics acquired two great young pitchers in Jarrod Parker and Brian Peacock in the two trades, who can help the team immensely once they are full-time starters in Oakland, which could be in 2012.

But, Peacock will need more time in the minors first.

11. Seattle Mariners

Projected Starters: Hernandez, Vargas, Beaven, Furbish, Noesi

The main point of these re-rankings is to analyze how much better or worse the Yankees and the Mariners will be after this trade. For the Mariners, they traded their No. 2 starter to acquire a great young hitter and possibly a fifth starter.

Besides King Felix, Seattle is very weak in its pitching department. The Mariners will definitely have a hard time in 2012 getting quality starts out of their pitchers.

Noesi could turn into a middle-of-the-rotation pitcher, but he needs more development as a starter.

Overall, the Seattle staff is still young and could be a threat in the next few seasons once its pitchers mature a little more.

10. Cleveland Indians

Projected Starters: Jimenez, Carmona, Masterson, Lowe, Tomlin

The Indians will hope that Fausto Carmona can bounce back from a terrible 2011 and that Ubaldo Jimenez can return to his 2010 form. Cleveland can't survive in the AL Central without a starting pitcher winning more than 12 games in a season.

They do have Justin Masterson, who could turn into a great pitcher, and also veteran Derek Lowe and 26-year-old Josh Tomlin at the back of the rotation. Seven of their top 10 minor league prospects are pitchers, which won't help in 2012 but could help in 2013 or 2014.

9. Minnesota Twins

Projected Starters: Pavano, Liriano, Baker, Marquis, Blackburn

Minnesota has a lot of, well, "Twins-type" pitchers in its rotation. They are all very average pitchers who will win around 10-13 games during 2012. Scott Baker was the only pitcher last season to have a winning record (8-6).

The Twins really could've used a big signing to bolster their rotation but decided to sign Jason Marquis instead. Carl Pavano is technically the "ace" of the staff, but he needs to work on keeping the ball in the ballpark. 

8. Chicago White Sox

Projected Starters: Danks, Floyd, Humber, Sale, Peavy

The loss of long-time starter Mark Buehrle will not be an easy guy to replace on the field or in the clubhouse. The White Sox are hoping that John Dank can be their ace, signing him to a five-year contract extension earlier this offseason.

Floyd, Humber and Sale are all solid middle-of-the-rotation guys who still have a lot to learn in the league, while Jake Peavy is hoping that he can salvage what's left of his career. Since winning 19 games in 2006, Peavy hasn't won more than 10 games in a season, and injuries have plagued him as well.

7. Toronto Blue Jays

Projected Starters: Romero, Morrow, Cecil, Drabek, McGowan

The Blue Jays have a lot of good, young talent in their rotation that's led by lefty Ricky Romero. Romero went 15-11 last season and posted a sub-3.00 ERA. Brandon Morrow is a good No. 2 pitcher, leading the team in strikeouts by a mile.

Cecil and McGowan are average at best, but Drabek could be huge for Toronto in the next few years. He is one of the Blue Jays' top young pitchers and could be very valuable as trade bait near the middle of the season.

6. Texas Rangers

Projected Starters: Lewis, Holland, Feliz, Harrison, Ogando

This is the one starting rotation that has an outstanding circumstance. That circumstance's name is Yu Darvish.

The Rangers have yet to make a deal with the Japanese pitcher, but if they can, it will automatically improve their staff and probably send Harrison or Ogando to the bullpen.

With C.J. Wilson signing with the Angels, the Rangers needed someone to counter with, and Darvish could be that guy. The transition from closer to starter for Neftali Feliz should also be interesting during spring training.

Lewis and Holland are more than capable of leading the top of the Texas rotation even without Darvish.

5. Boston Red Sox

Projected Starters: Lester, Beckett, Buchholz, Bard, Aceves

This is going to be an interesting season for the Red Sox and their new set of coaches and executives. They go into spring training with only three true starters in Jon Lester, Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz, who is returning from a back injury.

They will try to transition Daniel Bard from his relief role to a starter and will also use Alfredo Aceves in the starting rotation. Boston desperately needs to sign another starting pitcher to bolster its rotation.

The Red Sox can still be very good with only three starters, especially if Bard and Aceves can manage to win more than a handful of games in 2012.

4. Detroit Tigers

Projected Starters: Verlander, Fister, Scherzer, Porcello, Turner

It helps to have the best starting pitcher in all of baseball at the top of your rotation, but the rest of the Tigers staff is also very good.

Doug Fister, Max Scherzer and Rick Porcello are all above-average pitchers who can win 12-16 games a season, while Jacob Turner is still young but should learn a lot with Verlander pitching in front of him.

This is the type of rotation that can pitch the Tigers right through the postseason like we saw in 2011. Verlander just can't be stopped and is one of the few pitchers who can throw a no-hitter every time he steps on the mound. 

3. New York Yankees

Projected Starters: Sabathia, Pineda, Nova, Kuroda, Hughes

Here's the main reason for this slide show. As I mentioned in the introduction, the Yankees now have one of the best rotations in the American League, adding the young Michael Pineda and the crafty Hiroki Kuroda to their staff.

A key thing to remember about the Yankees is they actually have more than five starters that they can use, including Freddy Garcia and A.J. Burnett. Hughes can also be used in the bullpen or traded, but overall, the Yankees have a very good starting rotation for the start of 2012.

CC Sabathia is the ace and seems to be consistently winning 19-plus games a season while in New York, and that also isn't going to change anytime soon.

Also, don't forget about the two young studs they have waiting in Triple-A, Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances.

2. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Projected Starters: Weaver, Wilson, Haren, Santana, Williams

The Angels made arguably the biggest free-agency splash with the signing of Albert Pujols, but also with the signing of C.J. Wilson. He will play a huge role in the Angels' rotation, pitching behind Jered Weaver, who has been phenomenal throughout his career.

Behind the two are Dan Haren and Ervin Santana, two pitchers who can be very good at any time during the season. Jerome Williams, 29, cleans up the back of the rotation but should learn a lot from the four great pitchers in front of him despite his age.

Los Angeles could have the best rotation in the American League, but the Angels' age is the only thing against them.  

1. Tampa Bay Rays

Projected Starters: Price, Shields, Hellickson, Davis, Moore

So, by process of elimination, we finally land at the No. 1 starting rotation in the American League, the Tampa Bay Rays. You can't say enough about how good David Price can be and also how dominant James Shields is.

Jeremy Hellickson was the AL Rookie of the Year, and there's a pretty good chance that the Rays bring home that award again in 2012 when Matt Moore starts his first full season in Tampa Bay. Wade Davis is a good pitcher who can win 10-13 games for the Rays.

The average age of this rotation is only 25 years old, which is extremely young for such a great set of pitchers.

Tampa Bay could easily pitch its way to a World Series championship in the next few seasons, maybe even in a couple if they're lucky.