Mariners-Yankees trade finally official

First a very quick programming note: as you can see from the headline on this post, this space will no longer be dedicated to Seahawks-only news. Instead, this blog is now a place for all things Seahawks, Mariners, Sounders and more from the Seattle sports scene. I'll continue to pass along all the Seahawks news I can, but my duties at the Herald have shifted in the new year, so you'll now be hearing from me on a variety of topics. Sometimes it will be news, other times I'll chime in with an opinion. Welcome to anybody new, and to all you Seahawks diehards, hopefully you don't mind a little variety.

Anyway, enough about that. On to the news...

We've known this was coming down for more than a week now, but the trade that sends Michael Pineda to New York for Jesus Montero became official Monday.

The Mariners will also get right-handed pitcher Hector Noesi, while New York gets righty Jose Campos, who spent last season with the Everett AquaSox.

Here is our story with more details, but here's what GM Jack Zduriencik had to say in the press release announcing the trade:

“With this trade we feel we have acquired a premium offensive talent that has the potential to hit in the middle of our lineup and grow with our other young players. It is also beneficial that we were able to acquire a Major League- ready pitcher with six years of control and who will compete for a spot in our rotation.

“It was very difficult to part ways with Michael (Pineda) as we are extremely proud of what he has been able to accomplish in our organization. He is a special young man and we wish him the best of luck with the Yankees.

“Through our evaluations, we've identified the strength of our organization to be pitching depth, and this helped in our decision to acquire what we consider a premium bat and a potential starting pitcher for the 2012 season and beyond. This trade is also a testament to the job that Bob Engle (Vice President, International Operations) and Tom McNamara (Director of Amateur Scouting) and their staffs have done through scouting and signing of players. ”

And if anybody cares what I think, I wrote column on the trade last weekend. To summarize very briefly, I think it was a tough move to make, but the right one for a team that has been so offensively inept in recent years.