Bomber Bites With Jumping Joe-Masahiro Tanaka Starting Sunday is a Mistake

Masahiro Tanaka has been on the DL since before the All-Star break with a partial tear of the ligament in his elbow.  The Yankees opted to rehab the injury rather than have Tanaka undergo Tommy John surgery, which would have put Tanaka in danger of missing most of next season.  Now rather than wait for next season, the Yankees are going to have Tanaka start on Sunday against the Blue Jays.

Tanaka will likely pitch twice in what remains of this lost season. But the question is, why he is pitching at all. The Yankees have no real hopes of making the playoffs. Tanaka should continue his rehab and get things ready for spring training in February.  By having Tanaka start these games, the Yankees are assuming a ton of risk with precious little potential reward.  If Tanaka reinjures his elbow, he will need to have the surgery and will miss the entire 2015 season.  If Tanaka stays healthy and pitches great, the Yankees will still not reach the postseason.  So why push the man the Yankees invested $155 million over seven years?

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The idea that Tanaka needs to face major league hitting to determine if he is fully recovered from tear seems ludicrous to me.  Tanaka has thrown bullpen sessions, simulated games and faced minor league hitters in an instructional league game, but the Yankee doctors still can’t determine if the elbow is healed?  And the only way to do that is to have him pitch in a major league game?  If that is the case, the Yankees may need to get some new doctors.

Mandatory Credit: Chad R. MacDonald.

Of course, there is the cynical perspective of this saga: the idea that the Yankees are willing to jeopardize the long term health of Tanaka for the instant attendance and ratings boost on the YES Network for two additional Tanaka starts this season.  Before getting hurt, Tanaka was the biggest draw of the season and was pitching masterfully.  There was an uptick on second hand ticket sales and TV ratings when he pitched.  In a season in which the Yankees are destined to finish out of the playoffs after committing hundreds of millions in payroll during the offseason, would they risk injuring the best pitcher on their roster for a few quick bucks?  I can’t believe that would be the case.  The move just doesn’t make sense financially.  There is no hope for the postseason and the Yankees risk losing Tanaka for the long term.  This is different from Brewers pitching CC Sabathia until his arm fell off in 2008, when Sabathia was due to be a free agent that the Brewers probably could not afford to resign.  The Yankees will be paying Tanaka next season whether he throws a single big league pitch or not.

The sole motivation for starting Tanaka on Sunday seemingly boils down to one thing.  The Yankees want to see if he gets hurt.  They would rather the ligament tear fully on Sunday than wait until February or March for the ligament to tear completely.  A full tear on Sunday followed by Tommy John surgery and Tanaka will be ready to go in 2016 for spring training.  If he doesn’t tear the ligament until next spring training, Tanaka could miss all of 2015 as well as the start of the 2016 season.  Of course, if Tanaka had simply had the surgery when the tear was first discovered in July, then he would ready for the stretch run next season, when his return might help the Yankees get back into the postseason.  But instead, Tanaka will pitch Sunday where the drama will feel like a NASCAR race where you watch for the crashes as the Yankees fear/hope for Tanaka to injury his elbow further.