A few days ago, the Yanks and the Mariners made a huge trade that should benefit both teams, and fantasy owners alike.

New York shipped off hot prospect Jesus Montero for sophmore starter Michael Pineda.  I live in the Pacific Northwest, and am rather surprised by how many Seattle fans are bemoaning this trade.  Well, that is because of what they lost in the deal.  Pineda looked the future ace of the team in the first half of last season, and had a somewhat expected decline in the 2nd half being a rookie and all.  But his overall numbers looked good, as he was 2nd in the American League in K's per 9 innings, was 8th overall in WHIP, and tied for third with a .211 opponent batting average.

With his rookie season behind him and the Yankee bats behind him this upcoming season, you can expect some nice numbers.  He should get a big boost in the Wins column, and he'll probably pitch more innings this year (the M's held him to 28 starts) and thus get more K opportunities.

The best part is a lot of those cheat sheets out there that were produced in December are not going to reflect his increased value, hint, hint.

The Yanks didn't just trade that day, but they also signed Free Agent Hiroki Kuroda.  He could be a nice sleeper pick later in your draft, as he too is escaping a nasty situation only to head to a great line-up to support him.  He'll be a nice 4th or 5th starter for a lot of fantasy teams this year.  Even though he was 36 years old last season, he still threw for over 200 innings and struck out 161.  He should approach the 13 wins he got last year, and has a decent chance to pick up 15-17 with the improved line-up situation.

Keep an eye out for where these guys land in your rankings list that you take to your draft.