Yankees Editorial: Masahiro Tanaka’s Chance To Prove Himself

New York Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka was subject to various speculations this off-season, as he was recovering from his elbow injury suffered last year. It seems those speculations have increased following his loss on Opening Day. It also seems problems are coming one after another for Tanaka since the injury, but are they problems to him?

Though he didn’t need surgery to begin with (according to verified doctors), the partial tear is apparently causing him trouble velocity wise. Whether it is from that, or if it could possibly be from him not wanting to go 100%, no one can know except him. If it’s one or the other it doesn’t make a difference to the team or fans, they want him to pitch like he was early in the 2014 season. Some have said he doesn’t need to pitch with full velocity to still be effective, which may be true, but the Yankees didn’t offer him an $155 million contract to just be ‘effective’. The Yankees offered him that contract to be an ace, to take over the role CC Sabathia had in 2009.

Today a much anticipated start for Tanaka comes on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, and eyes will be dead set on everything he does, just as on Opening Day.

Of course media takes everything too far, overreactions, speculations, it’s always going to be there no matter who it is. Even though Tanaka’s average velocity on Opening Day was one mile per hour less than his average for the 2014 season, apparently the sky is falling for him and the Yankees. I disagree with this notion completely.

Tanaka will continue to find more strength as the season goes on, that might not be what impatient fans want to hear, but it’s the best they’re going to get. Tanaka isn’t a power pitcher such as Michael Pineda or Nathan Eovaldi as it is. Though the Yankees would love 100% velocity, this early in the season that won’t happen. Joe Girardi isn’t expecting it to, and neither is pitching coach Larry Rothschild. Do they expect him to not give up five runs though? Of course, and there’s no excuse for that. However the slight lack of power is not totally to blame for his performance on Opening Day. He was also leaving pitches clear in the zone, especially on the home run he gave up to Edwin Encarnacion for example. Would it have helped if the Yankees hitting wasn’t next to non-existent, maybe, but for that game specifically it was unlikely (different could be said for the last three games).

So all of this commotion leads us into Sunday Night Baseball against the Boston Red Sox, where Tanaka will be starting his second game thus far. The Yankees don’t want to drop four games in a row, and Tanaka doesn’t want to start the season with two poor performances. This game has a chance to not stop, but certainly slow down this onslaught of negativity surrounding everyone (except the bullpen). Negativity is something the Yankees do not need right now, not that it directly affects them, but from the way some fans are reacting you’d think the team started the season 10 games under .500 by default. Whether Tanaka is paying attention to the noise or not, tonight’s game could lift some of his own possible mental discomfort, as well as the media’s.

He knew what he was getting into when he came to New York, he knew what ever quiet he had before would go away. He’s ready to take whatever comes this season head on and that’s all you can ask for right now.

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