Yankees: Five moves the team should make without blinking

Give it up, Tanaka is not the answer

At what point do the Yankees say okay, we’re in the middle of a season that is promising, and many of our young players who we were hoping would develop, have developed. But there’s a gigantic hole in our arsenal that mystifies and surprises us, and we know we’ve gotta do something, but what should we do?

That is the story of Masahiro Tanaka and the New York Yankees this season.

Yankees fans know the litany of Tanaka’s numbers this season, and there’s no need to repeat them here. Suffice it to say; he is no longer their number one.

The bottom line is what it always is in baseball or any other sport, and that’s money. The Yankees are paying Tanaka to be their number one and come hell or high water, his spot remains at the top of the rotation.

But at the same time, is anyone convinced that whenever his turn comes up in the rotation that Girardi sends him out there with the confidence that he’ll pitch like a Clayton Kershaw, a Zack Greinke, or a Corey Kluber? Hardly. So why keep dragging the inevitable on?

The question of what to do with Tanaka at this point of his opt-out season is an issue better handled by Brian Cashman.

A trade is always a possibility, but given his consistent devaluing with every start, that presents a problem when you look at the potential return on his services and the money involved.

But there is one thing that Joe Girardi can do all by himself, and that leads into the next move the Yankees can and should make.