YANKS WOULD SAY SAYONARA!
If Tanaka opts out, he’s done in pinstripes
The Yankees will look to say Sayonara to Masahiro Tanaka at the end of the season.
Sources tell the Daily News that if the Japanese ace opts out of his $155 million contract, the Yankees would have no interest in pursuing a costly, long-term extension with the 28-yearold righty.
According to team sources, the Yankees — as desperate as they may be for quality starting pitching — are annoyed at Tanaka’s agent, Casey Close, for holding the threat of a potential optout over their heads.
“I just don’t see Hal (Steinbrenner) going there,” one team source told the News. “He’s still smarting from the (CC) Sabathia and (Mark) Teixeira deals.”
The Yankees are already concerned that Tanaka, who they certainly like, may not make it through the rest of his seven-year, $155 million contract, which he signed back in 2014. He’s still pitching with a partial tear of his UCL that could potentially blow at any second.
Tanaka is set to make $22 million this season. If he stays throughout the duration of his deal, he’ll be due $22 million in 2018 and 2019, and $23 million in 2020, when he’ll be 31.
The Yankees are concerned that talk of a potential opt-out is putting more pressure on Tanaka, and wonder if it factored into his struggles on Opening Day, when he gave up a career-high seven earned runs in just 2.2 innings.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Luis Severino will make his first start of the season on Friday against the Orioles at Camden Yards. It’s time to find out if he learned something from Pedro Martinez and Larry Rothschild.
After working with Martinez during the offseason, Severino had an up-and-down spring but emerged late to win the No. 4 spot in the Yankees’ erratic rotation. He finished with a 3.38 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 18.2 Grapefruit League innings.
“I think you look at his overall numbers, and they were pretty good,” Joe Girardi said Wednesday. “They were better than the other guys. I think he won (his spot).”
As Girardi said upon publicly announcing that Severino would be in the rotation: “He needs to grab this thing and run with it.” Plus, in losing two out of three to the Rays, Masahiro Tanaka and Michael Pineda combined to pitch just 6.1 innings,
This line of thinking is all part of a new philosophy under Steinbrenner, who got burned at the end of the Sabathia and Teixeira deals.
In 2011, the Yankees gave Sabathia what has amounted to a six-year, $147 million extension so he wouldn’t opt out. Since 2013, Sabathia has produced a 4.51 ERA in 100 starts. The 36-yearold lefty is now in the final year of the deal, which vested at $25 million.
Teixeira hit .229/.322/.442 and never played more than 123 games in any of the final five seasons of his eight year, $180 million deal.
As a Yankee, Tanaka has pitched to a 3.23 ERA in 76 starts.
Michael Pineda ($7.4 million) and Sabathia are both set to be free agents at season’s end. And top pitching prospect James Kaprielian is slated to putting a heavy workload on the bullpen in the process.
“That has to change,” Girardi said. “You knew early on that you weren’t going to get a ton out of them, but you can’t live like that.”
Severino went 0-8 with an 8.50 ERA in 11 big league starts last season, which included a stint in the minors. Still, the Yankees believe in the
It looks like the Yankees’ fourth highest-paid player will have a ticket to Monday’s home opener, and no spot in the lineup.
Alex Rodriguez took to Twitter Thursday to announce that he will be on hand at Yankee Stadium Monday when the Yankees meet the White Sox.
“#tbt #2009worldchamps Excited to be heading to Monday’s home opener to see the 2017 #yankees”
Rodriguez, who is making $21M this season as a special instructor, announced in February that his undergo MRI testing after feeling pain in his right elbow. Kaprielian missed nearly all of last season due to a flexor tendon injury in the elbow.
Brian Cashman wanted to add starting pitching during the offseason, but the prices in free agency and the trade market were too high for the organization’s liking.
The Yankees had talks with the White Sox about Jose Quintana over the winter, but New York was unwilling to meet Chicago’s understandably steep prospect demands for the durable and consistent left-hander. But given the uncertainty of Tanaka’s situation and Pineda’s continued inconsistency, come trade deadline time, those talks may eventually resume.
— with Bill Madden 23-year-old righty.
“I thought he did some things that should help him delivery-wise, and just with his tempo and his pace,” said Rothschild, the team’s pitching coach. “Kind of a pre-pitch routine that should help him.”
The biggest keys for Severino will be commanding his fastball and keeping his pitches down in playing days are over, but that won’t stop the disgraced slugger from returning to the ballpark where he won his one and only championship back in 2009.
This spring, Rodriguez spent a week at Steinbrenner Field counseling the many youngsters on the Yankees, even taking them out for dinner and wisdom.
Despite releasing A-Rod last August, the Yankees still owe him his salary from the final season of his 10-year, $275 million deal.
— Daily News staff the zone. His heater averaged 96.1 mph last season, according to FanGraphs, but opposing batters hit .299/.383/.544 against it. His secondary pitches — the slider and changeup — will also need to be more consistent, as he struggled mightily the second time (16.0 IP, 35 H, 12.38 ERA) and third time (8.2 IP, 13 H, 13.50 ERA) through the order.
“Last year, I wasn’t trying to be a pitcher. I was trying to throw hard,” Severino said.
Severino had gone 5-3 with a 2.89 ERA in 11 starts in 2015. His ceiling as a starter seemed high then. It still could be, but he eventually may be better suited as a power reliever.
The Yankees will find out a lot about their young hurler starting Friday night, when he faces the likes of Manny Machado, Adam Jones and Mark Trumbo.
“I don’t feel any (extra) pressure (to perform),” Severino said. “I feel really good, and I feel I can be the same guy (I was in 2015) or better this year.”