Palladino: Don't Worry, Yankees Know What They're Doing With Tanaka
By Ernie Palladino
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The Yanks have done a lot of adjusting lately, with basically good results.
They have grown used to seeing less of Alex Rodriguez. They have accepted the fact that Mark Teixeira may not return to the lineup at all. Rob Refsnyder has taken to learning first base on the fly. And CC Sabathia has thrived since May 1 despite having gone back to wearing the brace on his landing knee that hindered his 2015 output.
With all that adaptation going on, it seems incongruous that such a to-do is being made about how Joe Girardi is using Masahiro Tanaka. The current issue involves not the tenuous nature of his partially torn elbow ligament, but the amount of rest Girardi has afforded his $155 million Japanese import; four days as opposed to five.
But the question here is, why should it matter at all? Any professional pitcher, especially one who is supposed to be regarded as an ace, should be able to function effectively in the confines of a modern five-man rotation.
Girardi demands that. Tanaka understands it completely, and has taken the ball his last three outings on the fifth day without complaint.
So what's all the fuss about?
Certainly, Saturday's cannonading at the hands of the Tigers had as much to do with it as anything. Working his third straight start on four days' rest, Tanaka gave up five runs in 6 1/3 innings as the Yanks' had their five-game winning streak snapped. Included in the damage was Ian Kinsler's three-run homer in the fifth. But there were two other rockets to left-center that went for outs as Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner raced them down in the gap.
Granted, if they didn't get to those balls, Tanaka's line would have looked much uglier.
It was a bad outing. No way around that. But that's all it was. And the same could have happened if Tanaka had that fifth day of rest.
Perhaps this is just the ravings of an old writer who remembers the days of four-man rotations, when it was hardly rare to expect a pitcher to go deep into games off three days of rest. That was an era where pitchers worked and few ever needed Tommy John surgery.
It was an era where Billy Martin, infamous for burning out his staff, left Ron Guidry out there to throw more than 130 pitches in consecutive starts. "Louisiana Lightning" came back on his next scheduled start showing zero ill effects of the workload.
Today's pitchers don't throw anywhere near those numbers. And Girardi has always been careful -- perhaps too careful -- about pitch counts. But he is not wrong in downplaying the rest days angle when it comes to Tanaka. The right-hander with the tough splitter is more than capable of handling a regular rest schedule.
He proved it in the two starts before Saturday. He threw six innings of one-run ball in his June 1 loss to Toronto. And he gave up just two runs in a seven-inning no-decision five days later against the Angels.
Tanaka also beat Seattle on April 17, allowing just two earned runs in seven innings off four days' rest.
A couple of May starts off four days' rest were far from successful, but they shouldn't color the whole picture. Besides that, Girardi doesn't have the rotational depth to accommodate a fifth day, especially in stretches with few off days, like the Yankees have just come out of. Monday's off day represents the first in 20 games. Another 20-game string preceded that one.
A manager can only be so careful with any pitcher. Sometimes, a pitcher has to work on regular rest. It's part of the job. And Tanaka has proven in the past that he can handle it.
Bad games happen, even after an extra day of rest.
So let's stop all the hand-wringing over Tanaka.
He'll be fine.
Follow Ernie on Twitter at @ErniePalladino
