SHOULD BE LONG GONE
Latest homer barrage enough to pull Tanaka
The Yankees can no longer pretend that somehow Masahiro Tanaka will figure this out simply because they want to believe it. As home runs continue to fly over the wall at a staggering rate, it has become painfully obvious that right now he doesn’t have the stuff to get major league hitters out with any regularity.
Heck, Tanaka couldn’t even keep the Red Sox in the park, and they began the night with 53 home runs, the fewest in the American League.
Fat sliders and pedestrian fastballs are no way to go through life as a starting pitcher, to co-opt an old movie line from “Animal House,” but that seems to be all Tanaka has in his arsenal these days.
The thought of that continues to be shocking, as it was only last season that he was worthy of Cy Young Award consideration, but at the moment 2016 might as well be a lifetime ago.
Tanaka gave up three more home runs on Tuesday night in a 5-4 loss at the Stadium to the Red Sox while lasting only five innings.
As such he put the Yankees in an early hole, and remarkably he has now surrendered 14 home runs in his last seven starts (and 17 for the season), not to mention 53 hits in his last 36 innings, all while pitching to an 8.46 ERA.
Suffice it to say that if it weren’t for his star status, not to mention his $155 million contract, Tanaka wouldn’t be making his next start. He’d either be shipped to the minors or the bullpen until further notice, but the Yankees almost certainly won’t go either route. So what should they do? To hear Tanaka after the game was to leave no doubt that he needs a break, perhaps more mentally than physically. He admitted at his locker that he was pressing, trying to make the perfect pitch, which led to what he called, via his interpreter, “crucial mistakes.”
When a reporter followed up on whether he’s trying too hard, essentially asking if this funk he is in is affecting him on the mound, Tanaka answered quickly: “Yes,’’ he said. “Especially today.” With that in mind, I’d try putting Tanaka on the 10-day disabled list simply as a timeout of sorts, to see if some rest and time to clear his head would make a difference.
It could be tricky, because Tanaka might not like the idea of being sat down, but he didn’t protest when asked afterward if it might help him to at least skip a start.
“That’s up to the manager,’’ he said. “I’ll just keep working.”
Afterward Joe Girardi didn’t sound like he was thinking about any type of forced break for Tanaka, saying, “This guy has been our ace the last three years. I don’t think you forget how to pitch. It’s our job to try to get him back on track.’’
Sure, but Girardi admitted the Yankees have “looked at everything’’ for possible cause-and-effect, and found nothing that would suggest either an injury or an obvious flaw that needs fixing.
Nevertheless, the Yankees could cite some sort of arm fatigue as a legitimate reason to put him on the disabled list, especially with Tanaka’s history with the partially torn elbow ligament.
And judging by how defeated he looked and sounded after the game, I have to think Tanaka could probably be talked into seeing the benefit of some time away from all of the recent failure.
For the Yankees it would give them a different way to attack the issues, since they say they’ve tried everything to fix him on the fly and come away with no real answers.
“We’ve done the ‘CSI: The Bronx’ on him,’’ was the way GM Brian Cashman put it before Tuesday’s game, “in terms of turning the lab upside down and inside out. It’s about the inconsistency of his pitches, but we haven’t pinpointed a reason why.”
Also, for what it’s worth, Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez tweeted even before Tuesday’s start that it was “time to panic” about Tanaka.
“His stuff is not there,’’ Martinez tweeted, “and I don’t see him getting it back.”
That seems harsh, but it adds to the case for giving Tanaka some time off to let the recent scars heal, then do some tinkering in side sessions and go back to work.
It’s probably too soon to call up Chance Adams, who had only a so-so start in TripleA Tuesday night, but the Yankees have decent short-term options in the likes of Chad Greene, Bryan Mitchell, or Luis Cessa.
Right now any of them would give the Yankees a better chance on Sunday against the Orioles, who scored seven runs against Tanaka six days ago.
Not that the Yankees should give up their one-time ace. But they need to try something.