Yankees Need Tanaka to Opt Out After 2017

When the Yankees signed Masahiro Tanaka to a seven-year, $155 million deal back in 2014, with it came the weight of the world in terms of high expectations. After almost three full years in, Tanaka is no better than a No. 3 option.

Masahiro Tanaka has been a professional baseball player long enough, first in Japan, and now here in America, to know that when you are being taken out of a game, due to a poor performance or not, you wait on the mound for the manager to come get you.

While some may call this archaic, it’s really just one of those time-honored baseball traditions. Besides, it shows a bit of respect for you team’s skipper.

However, it appeared Tanaka threw caution to the wind when Yankees Manager Joe Girardi stepped out of the dugout to pull him from yet another disastrous outing on Tuesday evening; one that saw Tanaka allow seven runs and eight hits in just 6 1/3 innings.

Tanaka began to exit from the mound area when he realized his time in the game had come to an end, resulted in a rather strange meeting of Girardi and his starting pitcher, somewhere up the line towards home plate. Girardi, all in one motion, then grabbed the ball out of Tanaka’s hand and kept on towards the mound without ever setting his glare on the 27-year-old starting pitcher.

After the game, both men were quick to throw water on the fire, claiming extenuating circumstances led to the exchange.

“There was a double-switch and I saw the next pitcher coming out. I walked toward Joe and gave him the ball,’’ Tanaka said. “There were no bad intentions.’’

Girardi’s retort was that there was indeed some confusion because the double-switch took longer than it should have, but all-in-all, felt his pitcher wasn’t showing him up. Right, like Girardi would have said Tanaka was, even if Tanaka flat out said, hey Joe, I’m showing you up!

There are a few reasons as to why the $155 million dollar man is struggling more so in 2016 than he ever has before. Some say it’s because he needs to pitch every sixth day instead of fifth. And while the numbers are present to back up this claim (before Tuesday’s start, on five days’ rest, Tanaka was 4-0 with a 1.05 ERA in seven starts. On four days’ rest, he was 1-3 with a 4.95 ERA in 10 starts.) it’s just not feasible.

This is Major league Baseball. You can’t implement a six-man staff because it would deplete not only your bullpen, and potential bench pieces, but the other four men on the starting staff simply aren’t accustomed to this practice. It isn’t practical to put four starters in harms way to soothe just one.

The other obstacle Tanaka cannot seem to hurdle this campaign, is his lack of concentration. Yes, he usually starts off each contest strong, as evidenced last night when he opened the game with eight straight outs. But then the opposing pitcher, Jacob deGrom came to bat with two outs in the third.

What happened next? A lack of proverbial mental fortitude resulted in a single, which soon led to a three-run home run off the bat of Alejandro De Aza.

“You never want to give up a hit to the pitcher, especially with two outs,” McCann said. “You always want to get the pitcher out. You have to get him out; that’s a big part of the game. They’re a free out.”

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Tanaka’s MLB career started out positively enough, a 13-5 record with a 2.77 ERA in 2014, which was followed up by 12-7 and a 3.51 ERA. While these numbers won’t rival the Kershaw’s of the world, they showed glimmers of hope for a pitcher dealing with a partially torn UCL in his right elbow.

In retrospect, the Yankees should have demanded that Tanaka undergo Tommy John surgery back in July of 2014, heal up, and potentially come back stronger than ever. By now this issue could have, and should have, been a thing of the past.

Over his last seven starts, Tanaka is 2-2 with a 4.54 ERA while allowing 46 hits in 42.1 innings pitched. So at his current pace, MLB.com projects him to finish out 2016 at 11-8 with a 3.48 ERA, which seems a bit generous in my opinion.

Now if you’re a Yankees fan that feels these numbers are suitable for a franchise currently undergoing a rebuild-of-sorts, so be it. Yes, Tanaka could still finish the season pitching well over 200 innings; and while this does alleviate some taxation put on a now young-inexperienced bullpen, what does it foreshadow for the future?

Well, I’ll tell you. If Tanaka can stay away from going under the knife long enough to put up modest numbers over the course of the next season and a third, maybe, just maybe, his agent convinces him to opt out of the remaining three-years, $67 million still remaining on his original Yankees deal.

While it could be potentially disastrous for Tanaka’s bank account, should he once and for all need the surgery that requires a 12-15 month recovery period, it would be a blessing in disguise for the Yankees to rid themselves of yet another poor contract.

Next: Yankees Farm System Better Than Braves?

All signs point to the notion that the Yankees won’t be ready to compete again until at least 2018, so freeing up $22 million-ish per season, to put towards a young, injury free arm for the rotation or pen, would surely come in handy for Brian Cashman’s new, New York Yankees.