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Yankees Editorials: Who should be the New York Yankees Opening Day starter?

By Caleb Gebrewold

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CC Sabathia has been the New York Yankees Opening Day starter since his arrival in 2009.  After a disappointing 2013, Sabathia felt that losing weight would help him entering 2014, and ended up only making eight starts before being shelved for the season.

Even after putting weight back on entering 2015, Sabathia no longer appears to be the Yankees best starter.  He’s such an unknown at this point that he could even be the worst, though I would place him right around third, following Masahiro Tanaka and Michael Pineda.  These two young pitchers have both showed that they are aces in the making, but need to become more durable.

If Sabathia is to pitch every five days from his debut start this past Tuesday until Opening Day, he will be lined up to be the Opening Day starter.  If Tanaka pitches every six days from his start Wednesday, then he will also be lined up to start Opening Day.

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Joe Girardi doesn’t seem ready to commit to an Opening Day starter, according to Chad Jennings:

"We’ll just see who’s ready.  We have to see where (Sabathia’s) at.  That’s been the whole thing all along here.  We’ve been patient with him and Tanaka because we want to see where they’re at."

Sabathia has been around a long time, and isn’t worried about Opening Day:

"I can’t sit here and say it’s going to make or break me if I don’t start Opening Day.  I’ve done it a lot, I want to be there in September, and for Game 1 of whatever playoff series.  I leave that up to them.  I hate to sound like I don’t care, because I do, but whenever I get out there, I’ll be happy with that."

While Tanaka is the Yankees best starter, even he feels Sabathia is the staff ace.  While Tanaka could prefer Sabathia to be given the honor out of respect for the southpaw, whoever is given the task will also get an extra day of rest, something that could benefit Tanaka, and that Girardi said will go into the decision:

"All of this goes into it.  I think the way we’re looking at it is, who’s ready?  We want to make sure that person is ready, obviously.  You look at the rotation and how does it benefit each guy?  You’re the number one guy on the day you pitch; that’s all that matters to me.  Whether you’re the first starter, the second starter, you’re still that number one guy and you’re still going to take your turn every five days or every six days if we have an off-day.  I’m not a big believer of skipping people, so it’s just formality, really."

As Sabathia stated, being labeled the Opening Day starter isn’t as important as starting Game 1 of the playoffs.  The Yankees must decide what order will keep their best rotation on the mound throughout the season, after an injury plagued 2014.

Girardi also added that it is not just between Tanaka and Sabathia at this point:

"Neither one of them have made a lot of starts in Spring Training, so something could change our mind.  I’m pretty open-minded about it right now.  Obviously I’ll have to change my mind pretty soon, but right now, that’s not a huge decision for me."

Ultimately, it comes down to loyalty to Sabathia, or going with the better pitcher in Tanaka.  I believe that the best option would be to start Tanaka Opening Day, then Sabathia, then Pineda.  Although I would rank Pineda as a better pitcher than Sabathia at this point, the combination of Sabathia’s longevity with the organization, and the ability to have a lefty between the two best righties outweighs that.

Tanaka is the best pitcher, and the Yankees should do everything to protect his arm.  Having an extra day of rest will help keep Tanaka fresh, and the Yankees rotation needs him at the top.

While Sabathia could be given the nod due to his veteran status, and role as a leader in the clubhouse and rotation, Tanaka will likely be on the mound come April 6th, as he is the future of the Yankees rotation, and CC is the past.  I am predicting that this will be an official passing of the torch as the Yankees on-field ace.

Next: Jose Pirela should not be ignored

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