HIRO'S RETURN
Tanaka set to 'set up' and help Bombers reclaim AL East
TAMPA — Like Lennon & McCartney, Bonnie & Clyde and Romeo & Juliet, you can’t avoid Pitchers & Catchers when it comes to baseball lingo at this time of the year.
While pitchers throwing to catchers gets over-romanticized compared to what it actually is, a baseball popping a catcher’s glove under a brilliant sun signifies the beginning of spring training.
The first official step in that process for the Yankees is Wednesday at George M. Steinbrenner Field when their pitchers and catchers report. Thursday is the first workout, although J.A. Happ, James Paxton, Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka have been throwing at the nearby minor league complex where Gary Sanchez has been hitting and catching on his way back from left (non-throwing) shoulder surgery.
It is significant the Yankees get started with pitchers and catchers. All major league teams open that way, but how the pitchers pitch, and how Sanchez does at the plate and behind it, will go a very long way in determining if the Yankees are good enough to wrestle the AL East title away from the blood-rival Red Sox, who are the defending World Series champs.
“Obviously, we are a better team now,’’ Tanaka said Tuesday through a translator outside of the minor league facility where Aaron Judge, Greg Bird, Luke Voit, Troy Tulowitzki, Clint Frazier and Sanchez took batting practice. “The additions are definitely going to help us out.’’
The main addition is Paxton, who was acquired from the Mariners in a deal that sent pitching prospect Justus Sheffield to Seattle. Happ and Sabathia were re-signed and right-handed reliever and Brooklyn native Adam Ottavino joined as a free agent to replace David Robertson, who landed in Philadelphia. Troy Tulowitzki gets the first crack filling in at shortstop until Didi Gregorius returns from Tommy John surgery on his right (throwing shoulder). DJ LeMahieu brings a quality atbat to the infield where he has been a second baseman but will likely play third and first as well.
Always accountable, the 30-year-old Tanaka explained he has to do his part to help a rotation headed by Severino and includes CC Sabathia.
“I look at it as I got to do my job,’’ said Tanaka, who enters his sixth year with the Yankees and can become a free agent following the 2020 season. “And step up.’’
Following a pedestrian 2017 when Tanaka went 13-12 with a career-high 4.74 ERA in 30 starts, the righty improved a year ago when he was 12-6 with a 3.75 ERA in 27 starts.
In 132 major league starts, Tanaka is 64-34 with a 3.59 ERA. With a .653 winning percentage, Tanaka is fourth among active pitchers (minimum 75 starts) behind Clayton Kershaw (153-69; .689), Max Scherzer (159-82; .660) and David Price (143-75; .656).
Tanaka may never be the pitcher he was in his first 18 starts in this country when he went 12-4 with a 2.51 ERA and fanned 135 batters against 19 walks in 129 ¹ /3 innings before a minor tear in a right elbow ligament was discovered but never operated on. However, if the Yankees are going to slide past the Red Sox, they will need a healthy — he has been on the DL every season except 2016 but nothing elbow-related since 2014 — and effective Tanaka who is 3-2 with a 1.50 ERA in five postseason games and recorded the only win in last year’s ALDS against the Red Sox.
He missed a month last season after straining each hamstring running the bases against the Mets at Citi Field. Asked Tuesday if he would like to see the DH used in each league and thus keep pitchers off the bases, Tanaka said he enjoyed the game when pitchers participated on the mound and in the box.
“I did get injured [running the bases]. When you look at it, I grew up where baseball was played by nine guys which means the pitcher would hit also,’’ said Tanaka, a .083 (1-for-26) hitter in the big leagues. “I really enjoyed that baseball.’’
Other than throwing more outside in a warmer climate, Tanaka didn’t alter his offseason training routine.
“With the throwing program I am a little bit ahead of where I was last year,’’ Tanaka said.