New York Yankees: 5 Reasons Michael Pineda Is Just What Yankees Need 

The New York Yankees have gotten themselves a pitcher in Michael Pineda, and that's just what they needed.

Getting to the playoffs perennially is good enough for most franchises in Major League Baseball, but not for the New York Yankees. They are used to being perennial championship contenders, and they needed a new, young pitcher to do that.

They've been too old and too pitching-deficient for too long. Pineda gives their rotation a much-needed boost.

Here are five reasons why Pineda is just what the doctor ordered.

They Need Pitching

Truthfully, they could still use some pitching. C.C. Sabathia is one of the best pitchers in baseball, but they don't have a lot of other starters that are making other teams envious.

While they did do a good job last season at getting production out of guys like Freddy Garcia, Bartolo Colon and A.J. Burnett, they aren't going to be able to count on those guys to be stars or even consistent.

Michael Pineda looks like a young star. He had a 3.74 ERA last season in just his first season as a big leaguer. The Yanks need a young star for this staff, both for now and for the long term.

They Are Old

Ivan Nova was the only Yankee in the starting rotation last season that was less than 30 years old. Three of the five starters were 35 or older. Not exactly the staff of the future.

Michael Pineda is just 22 and has only one season under his belt. With him, Ivan Nova and elite pitching prospect Jose Campos, the Yankees have significantly improved the future of their pitching staff.

That infusion of young talent will pay off in the future.

They Needed Pitching Talent

This Yankees team needed some new talent. The pitching staff is made up of guys who pitch very intelligently (Colon, Garcia) but lack the talent to be a superstar.

The lineup is seeing is talent slowly drain away. Alex Rodriguez's home runs and RBI last season were the worst they've been since joining the Yankees. The same can be said of Derek Jeter's home runs, RBI and hits.

Pineda is clearly a talent, with an ERA of 3.74 and a WHIP of 1.10 in his first professional season. That talent is desperately needed, both for winning now and for making the team more attractive.

They Needed to Unload Jesus Montero

I haven't seen Jesus Montero play. I don't know how good he is. I do know that the Yankees were very reluctant to give him up, even for a guy like Pineda.

Truthfully, they needed to do something with Montero. Whether it was getting him more playing time at the big league level or unloading him in a trade, something needed to be done.

Fans have heard for too long various trade scenarios about Montero going here or there, but then also they've also about how great he is. It's good to have some closure.

They Needed to Show an Urgency to Win

After passing on players like Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez and striking out with Cliff Lee last season, the Yankees had a relatively quiet offseason. Any sports fan knows that that is not the norm.

This offseason, the Yankees needed to show that they still had the urgency to win. They needed to show fans, opponents and detractors that the rest of Major League Baseball is still their farm system that they can play with. They needed to "Steinbrenner" it up.

Now, they look much better than last year, whether that really is the case or not.