Yankees: Masahiro Tanaka hilariously owned Erik Kratz over wife comment

New York Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka owned former backup catcher Erik Kratz with a quip about his pop star wife.

Yankees fans fell in love with Erik Kratz in 2020 partially because, well, there was very little else to fall in love with during this slap-dash year.

That’s not to say the man didn’t earn folk hero status in his final season before retirement, though.

Kratz was far more than a player-coach in the Yankees locker room, guiding Deivi Garcia (aka his son) through the first several starts of his career from behind the plate, and delivering timely hits and at-bats at the absolute low point of the Gary Sanchez Era — and, yes, he’s also got a nasty knuckleball.

Though Kratz was often the teacher in the Bronx, he did learn one lesson himself, too: Don’t cross Masahiro Tanaka.

Tanaka is arguably the second most well-known person in his own marriage; the pitcher’s wife is Japanese singer and Country Musume band member Mai Satoda. And when Kratz tried to ask him about it, the righty had a ready-made comeback to shoot him back down.

Sorry, Kratzy. Masa still runs this locker room.

Since Kratz walked away from the game, the man with the veteran personality has somehow been even more open about his past year, and we’ve gotten a ton of prime content out of it.

As if this photograph of the man himself watching Kyle Higashioka do a Kratz impersonation after the Yankees’ Wild Card win over the Indians wasn’t enough, his personality really shone in this “Talkin’ Yanks” interview — or, should we say exposé? Nah, we shouldn’t.

Now that 2020 is officially in the books and Kratz has hung up his spikes (at least, for now), the Yankees should be back on the phone to his camp, trying to find a way to fit him onto the coaching staff.

Then, they should call Tanaka next and offer him a sweetheart deal to increase his personal fame. It’s only fair.

Yankees: 3 players who’ve likely played their last game in New York

These three Yankees (and, OK, fine, many others) have probably played their final games in New York following the 2020 MLB season.