Masahiro Tanaka Is TERRIBLE And Needs To Skip A Start

At 5-6 with a 6.55 ERA, Mashiro Tanaka is hot garbage on the mound. Last night could have and should have had a playoff feel to it. But thanks to flat pitches right down the dick of the plate which led to 5 runs in 5 innings out of our “ace”, the Yankees had to play from behind and needed their offense to have a huge game to bail Tanaka out. And they obviously came up short.

Everything coming out of the Yankees says that Tanaka is perfectly healthy. His troubled elbow isn’t the problem with his pitching right now and that means it’s all in his head. After being the ace for 3 seasons and then having them lose 7 of your 12 starts, your confidence will take a bit of a blow. But right now he is shot. Having given up 17 home runs already this season and showing that even an extra day rest isn’t fixing things, it’s time to sit him.

This team is playing above its weight and running Tanaka out there every 5th day has now made him a liability to the team. Sitting just 1 game up in the standings, a change needs to be made but thankfully we don’t need to mortgage our future by trading away the farm.

Chance Adams has been fantastic as he has climbed the minor league ranks for the Yankees. With a 1.03 ERA and 8.2 K/9 in Trenton, it took just 6 starts to earn a promotion to AAA. Since arriving in Scranton Adams has a 1.57 ERA, and 10.6 K/9, including 12 strikeouts in just 6 shutout innings last week. There was talk of saving his arm for later in the year, but it’s June and “later in the year” just got here.

Adams may need some work on his fastball command. But with 2 plus off-speed pitches and Tanaka stinking up the joint, lets give the kid a chance to give this team a shot in the arm. When you get off to a hot start, it’s easy to lose momentum. But Adams now and Torres down the line could be spread out additions that save the season and save our future.