Yankees: Best free agent signings of the past decade

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4. Masahiro Tanaka

Masahiro Tanaka has been worth every penny for the Yankees.

It’s very “Yankees” to judge free agent signings on how they perform in the postseason. If that’s your sole criteria, Masahiro Tanaka deserves such a high spot it’d bleed onto his own individual list called “One Best Guy of All Time.”

Tanaka’s so impressive because he’s been forced to reinvent himself repeatedly in New York, and every time, he emerges on the other side with a brighter outlook and a better arsenal.

When he arrived as a “rookie” in 2014, he threw hard — 95-96, devastating split, pinpoint control. Pitching was effortless … of course, until his UCL was partially torn that summer. Against all odds, he rehabilitated the injury, never went under the knife, and returned in 2015 and 2016 looking just as good as ever, with slightly diminished velocity (who remembers his ’16 season, where he went 14-4 with a 3.07 mark?).

Unfortunately, his stuff deserted him in 2017, and his fastball lost any semblance of his trademark zip, no longer a viable big-league pitch. No matter; by the time October rolled around, he’d figured out once again how to keep hitters off balance with constant changes of speed, and it paid off with seven shutout innings against Cleveland (ahh, the Greg Bird game!) and 2 ER in 13.0 innings against an Astros team that had his signs.

In sum total in October, Tanaka has posted a 1.76 ERA in eight starts, allowing 25 hits in 46 innings. Hopefully, the Yankees extend their October Blackout God when the 2020 season ends, and he makes a similar list for the next decade. He’s earned it.