Keidel: Yankees Need Tanaka To Get On Track Sooner Rather Than Later
By Jason Keidel
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While the Yankees have had a dream season so far, there's been odd pockets of sleep apnea - especially at the top of their rotation.
If you told the Yankees or their fans that Masahiro Tanaka would be the worst pitcher on their starting staff, then you'd assume the Bombers would be plunging down the rungs of relevance, buried below the AL East.
If the Yanks' rotation on April 1 were a rock band, it would have been called Tanaka and the Variables. CC Sabathia was big, old and increasingly brittle, his formerly ferocious fastball losing ample miles per hour. Luis Severino had a disastrous 2016. Michael Pineda has always been moody, if not bipolar, on the mound. And Jordan Montgomery had to be the greatest unknown of all.
Even better, you'd break a few nails scratching your head if you learned that the best 2016 Yankees pitcher, by far, was Ivan Nova. The enigmatic former Bomber has had nine starts for the Pittsburgh Pirates, with eight of them quality starts. Nova's ERA (2.63) is well less than half that of Tanaka's (6.56 ERA).
Indeed, it's Tanaka who has struggled, if not imploded, so far this young season. In his last start (May 20), he surrendered six runs on three homers, allowing 12 batters on base in just three innings. The outing before was the worst of his career, yielding eight runs and four homers over 1 2/3 innings, tied for the shortest start of his MLB career, after which he was literally booed off the diamond.
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There's nothing to dislike about Tanaka. He doesn't have Matt Harvey's hubris or Aroldis Chapman's baggage. Either the language barrier, modesty or both keeps his personality buried well below the bold ink. You can admire his toughness for pitching past the torn ligament in his elbow. Is it the injury? Or just arm fatigue? Should the Yankees contrive some ailment and plop him on the DL for 15 days? Will he someday need surgery?
No matter his malady, the Yanks aren't paying him $22 million in 2017 for this. Nor did they sign him for seven years and $155 million for more of it.
As we cracked the lid off the season, it was the Mets with a laughable surplus of young and wildly gifted pitching. Then they've suffered this biblical wave of injuries and, in some cases, ineptitude, that has rendered the crosstown rivals an afterthought. Maybe we should have seen that coming, based on each team's history. Certainly, if you told us one team would be in first and the other in third, we would have nodded, while assuming it was the Mets and Yanks, respectively.
Though the Yankees (26-17) are much better than most media and the masses expected, their nostrils well above .500 waters, they aren't so good that they can live with Tanaka tanking. Nor can they prosper without an ace. Like all clubs, the Yanks will hit a skid, and they need to know they can hand the ball to a hurler who will jam the breaks on a bad streak. They have every right to believe they bought that with Tanaka.
You knew the bullpen would be great. Tuesday night's loss to the Royals marked the first time in 23 games this season that the Yankees were beaten after entering the seventh inning with a lead. They just need the arms to get them there.
And if the Yanks plan to play deep in into October, they need Masahiro Tanaka to be one of them.
Follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel
