Yankees: Masahiro Tanaka’s Latest Message is Rare Bit of Good News

Masahiro Tanaka of the New York Yankees is ready for a careful comeback.

When Masahiro Tanaka hit the deck after being struck by a 112 MPH Giancarlo Stanton liner, Yankees fans collectively gulped, then sighed. This again? He…he just got here.

It was all so disheartening.

But never fear (sometimes fear?) — Tanaka is as much of a warrior when he has no control of his bodily response as he is when he’s staring down the Astros on the road.

While he’s not “fine” by any means — even a minor concussion is cause for serious concern — Tanaka seems to be taking adequate caution AND feeling well, all things considered, a mantra which he reflected in his first tweet since taking the field on Saturday.

OK, I’m not being sarcastic — it really is positive! The faulty Twitter translation reads as follows:

"“It’s been a week since the ball hit the head. Fortunately, the program has been successfully digested up to this point. You have to carefully proceed because the place you hit is a place, but you can also catch balls for three consecutive days.Continue to be careful…”"

The message of continued caution at the end really does speak volumes to Yankees fans. No, he’s not out of the woods, but he knows it. He’s not penciling himself into the Opening Day rotation just because he feels near-normal. He’s going to manage this properly, something we should all have utmost confidence in following this tweet.

Of course, he also felt strong enough to tweet moments after the accident took place.

Every step of the way, Tanaka has used his calm grace to make sure Yankees fans know they’re in good hands, even as he battles the most unpredictable injury there is.

There’s basically no one we’d rather have in our corner, and hopefully that’s reflected when he hits free agency this offseason.