Yankees: It’s time to “take the road less traveled” with Tanaka

The Yankees, by now, should have reached a crossroads with the ace of their staff. Instead, they are acting like it’s business as usual. Clearly, with Tanaka, it’s time to take the road less traveled.

The Yankees watched helplessly as Masahiro Tanaka surrendered a home run to the first batter he faced in yesterday’s battering by the hapless Oakland A’s. And they could only grimace and wince when that was followed by two bombs off the bat of Ryon Healy that sealed both the Yankees and Tanaka’s fate during a pitiful four-inning start.

The season-long Tanaka saga now reminds of Robert Frost’s poem, “Stopping by the woods on a snowy evening”,  in which Frost came to fork in the road, thought for a moment and decided to take the road less traveled. It’s time for the Yankees to do the same.

Tanaka, in 2017, has already lost half of the total games he lost over the past three seasons since coming to the Yankees in 2014. His record of 44-23 translates into a pitcher who has won 65% of his decisions. But catch the keyword in that sentence – won.

Is there any reason to believe that it’s going to get any better with Tanaka trudging to the mound every fifth day?

And if the Yankees look objectively at his performance this year, Tanaka is a barely a number five in the rotation and certainly not a number one. On numerous occasions, I’ve tried to hammer the point home that Tanaka has been pitching at this level since he was 18 and all those pitches are catching up to him.

Couple that with the fact that before he came over here, he was pitching every sixth day, and not the American style every fifth day.

And even as recently as yesterday, manager Joe Girardi could have given Tanaka that extra day, electing instead to save his short staffed bullpen with Adam Warren on the 10-day DL in the event Tanaka imploded. And when you are on a losing streak, you can expect that if anything can go wrong, it will. And it did.

Rotate the rotation

What does taking the road less traveled mean? In this case, it means that Girardi takes advantage of the time off for his starters during the All-Star break to adjust his rotation for the down the stretch run.

Seemingly, the Yankees feel that Luis Severino has what it takes to be their number one tomorrow. Well, why can’t tomorrow be today? Severino is certainly pitching like a number one.

Next, move Jordan Montgomery up to number two. Girardi had enough confidence in Montgomery back in March when he installed him as the fifth starter, so what’s the difference now. And with the lefties performance to date, Girardi’s confidence level should be even higher.

Michael Pineda can stay where he is fulfilling the righty – lefty – righty combination managers seem to prefer. And from there, Girardi can slot Tanaka in as number four, at least until CC Sabathia returns, followed by Luis Cessa, Chad Green, Chance Adams – take your pick – the Yankees won’t be hurt by any of them.

Sending a message

If nothing less is accomplished by this shakeup, the Yankees will be sending a “business decision” message to Tanaka that suggests his services are no longer needed or wanted here.

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Now before anyone gets upset about that, remember that Tanaka is in a position at the end of this season to send the same message to the Yankees.

And to be sure, if Tanaka does decide to opt-out of his contract, his spokesman will use the same language saying that it’s only a business decision and wanting to be closer to home in LA or Seattle. So, no tears, please.

Another option for the Yankees is to put up the “Open for business” sign fielding calls to trade Tanaka. The trouble with that, though, is Tanaka’s return value is plummeting with every start. Still, as P.T. Barnum liked to say, there’s a sucker born every day. And if the right deal comes along, why not?

Staying inert is not acceptable

Rumors are plentiful indicating that Brian Cashman will land a quality starter before too long. If that’s the case and it happens, kudos again for Cashman.

But for Joe Girardi to remain inert by not shuffling the deck would be a mistake that is only going to compound itself if not taken care of now. Initially, Girardi was toying with the idea of starting Cessa yesterday and pushing Tanaka back a day. He chose not to, and we’ll never know if the outcome would have been different if he had gone that way ultimately.

But here’s the thing. Tanaka is being paid the kind of money that is reserved for the pitcher who is going right the ship when it veers off course as the Yankees of late are doing. Instead, for three months now, Tanaka has been the man extending losing streaks or ending winning streaks.

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Is there any reason to believe that it’s going to get any better with Tanaka trudging to the mound every fifth day?

Or, is it time to take the road less traveled by making some bold decisions that can not only take care of 2017 but project well beyond as to the makeup of a Yankees starting staff for the future?