Masahiro Tanaka: Not an Ace

I was at Fenway Park on September 27, 2014 to watch a late-season game between the Yankees and Red Sox, two teams that were not headed for the playoffs. I paid over $100 per ticket for the game. Fenway was sold out and there was a buzz in the air. Why? Well, Derek Jeter was playing in his second-to-last baseball game and I felt it an important enough event to drop big bucks on.

Derek #Jeter https://t.co/NCzazTyRMm

— Andrew (@Yankees_talk) September 27, 2014

In addition to seeing Jeter’s second-to-last game, and second-to-last infield chopper that went for a base hit, Masahiro Tanaka made his last start of 2014. Tanaka was coming off an elbow injury that derailed his, and the Yankees, season. I was a proponent of Tanaka having Tommy John Surgery over the summer, but I understand why he elected to rehab. I remember having a nervous energy watching him pitch that day because I felt at any moment he could reinjure himself and the Yankees 2015 season would be over before it started. Tanaka was unable to get through two innings, allowing 5 runs while throwing an assortment of 90 mile-per-hour meatballs to a Red Sox lineup filled with September call-ups. The lasting sense from that game, other than sadness because it was the last time I would see Derek Jeter on the field again, was unease. Tanaka – in every way, shape, and form – did not look like an ace.

I don’t think I’m breaking any ground when I say that Masahiro Tanaka is not an ace. Sure, his paycheck indicates that he’s an ace, but he is not. Yes, he has started two consecutive Opening Day’s for the Yanks, but that does not mean he is an ace. And yep, he got the ball in the do-or-die Wild Card game last October, but still, not an ace. The Yankees took a gamble on Tanaka when they signed him out of Japan to 155 million fat ones, which does not include the $20M posting fee. Three months into the Tanaka-era the price tag looked like a bargain. You mean to tell me the Yankees had a dominant number one pitcher who had not yet celebrated his 26th birthday - what’s the catch? Partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right shoulder. There it was, we found the catch. Since the time Yankees fans heard those gut-wrenching words it has been a bumpy ride for Tanaka. Early 2015 was filled with questions about Tanaka’s velocity and his decision to rehab instead of go under the knife. The results weren’t bad, but something was wrong. We were not witnessing the same Cy Young caliber Tanaka we saw for the first 18 starts of his big league career. The radar gun may have said his fastball velocity was consistent with pre-injury recordings, but the eye test told a different story. His devastating splitter was suddenly less devastating. Hitters were able to foul off pitches they used to swing over the top of. He found himself in a lot of deep counts which ran his pitch count up. Tanaka averaged 7.1 innings per start before his elbow injury. Since then he has averaged 6.1 and spent nearly three months on the disabled list. An ace does not spend three months on the disabled list in two seasons. An ace does not have to be coddled through Spring Training, and then challenged by his manager to step-up one week before the season starts. An ace doesn’t get pulled on Opening Day after 87 pitches. An ace should not cause us all this much headache. I expect more of the same from Tanaka in 2016. The majority of his starts will be good and the Yankees will have a chance to win the game, especially with this bullpen. Sometimes he'll leave in the 5th inning after 87 pitches however. And yes - you guessed it - he will miss a start or four due to some nagging injury. The sooner we, as Yankees fans, accept what Tanaka is – a very good pitcher who will never be the ace we thought he once might be – the better we will feel about him.