The age-gate players are mostly from the Dominican Republic. Significantly better chance that Pujols himself has lied about his age than Montero.
Suspect Dr. D is not going to be a fan of this trade because Pineda was such a personal fav. However, IMO this was the exact kind of deal the M's should have been looking for.
The M's are loaded with SP depth and the Fielder talks are a good example of the reputation that Seattle/Safeco has with hitters. Montero is one of the elite offensive prospects in all of baseball, and immediately mashed MLB pitching as soon as he was called up. Ignoring position (which the M's can afford to do), Montero was probably among the top 3 or so bats you'd want for this team. My one concern on a trade like this would be the M's compromising on the quality of the bat they got back; definitely not the case with this deal!
The M's still have plenty of pitching depth. Felix is less than 3 years older than Pineda, with a better tracker and much safer injury risk. Hultzen, Walker, and Paxton are three A-level arms on the farm. And perhaps most importantly, free agent SP will be much easier to acquire than free agent hitting.
This trade makes the M's a better team for now and the future.
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