Masahiro Tanaka Injury Leaves The Yankees Scrambling For Answers

The New York Yankees have dealt with a lot of injuries since the beginning of 2014, particularly in the starting pitching department. Now the team is facing another Masahiro Tanaka injury. While the team, and fans, had a feeling this may happen at some point in 2015, not being able to get through April with the $155 million dollar man is certainly frustrating.

Tanaka’s injury is not his elbow this time, but it may be related to him changing the way he throws in order to protect the elbow. He is expected to miss a month and may miss well beyond that if it is determined he now needs Tommy John surgery. Tanaka was limited to 136.1 innings last year and threw 22.1 innings this year before being shut down.

The big question is how his injury affects the Yankees moving forward. Of course, the Yankees are now down a starter, an ace at that. The team will not have Ivan Nova back until at least June as he continues to recover from his Tommy John surgery. Ideally Tanaka would have stayed healthy at least until then, but obviously that is not the case.

The Yankees rotation is Michael Pineda, CC Sabathia, Nathan Eovaldi, Adam Warren, and Chase Whitley. The Yankees bullpen will not be relied upon more than before, and the Yankees’ pen already leads the majors in innings pitched. Fortunately, it also has the best ERA in baseball. While the Yankees bullpen is off the charts fantastic, overworking it in May will lead to its destruction by season’s end.

The Yankees need another legitimate starter immediately. I’m not saying they need to give away the farm and trade for Cole Hamels, but someone needs to be brought in to eat innings. Hopefully the five starters mentioned above will take care of business, but it is doubtful. Sabathia cannot finish games, Eovaldi is not efficient, and Whitley is still a question mark.

Everyone under the sun knew Tanaka was going to be hurt in 2015. It was a race against Nova’s rehab and the Yankees lost. Now, while expectantly in first place, the team is scrambling to keep starters on the field and to not overuse its bullpen. Does anyone miss Shane Greene yet?