Evaluating The New Acquisitions At The Break

(Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

A popular thing to do in the blog world at the All-Star break is hand out midterm grades to your team's players and their first half performances.  Most of the grades you'd see from me if I were to do that would be C's, and that's not just because the Yankees have a .500 record and have looked blah in every way through 94 games.  For the most part, things have gone the way the way they had been going and the way they were expected to go for the returning Yankee core.  Father time has caught up to guys like Derek Jeter and Hiroki Kuroda, Ivan Nova and Michael Pineda have provided more questions than answers about their futures, and CC Sabathia's performance decline has continued in perfect harmony with his physical decline.  These guys are who we thought they were and who we were afraid they'd become.

It was the new guys on the block who were supposed to be the fixers.  They were the ones who were going to propel the holdover group back into the playoffs and bridge the gap into the next generation of Yankee baseball.  Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran, and Masahiro Tanaka, the $458 billion saviors.  Or so we thought.  Expectations have hardly been met by this group, although their respective performances have hardly been poor across the board, and some of the blame for the team's present position falls on some of these shoulders.  Here's a quick recap of how that half bil investment is paying off so far.

Quick Hit: Tanaka To The DL With Elbow Problems; Heading For An MRI

My reaction:



That's an overseas HOT TAKE for you right there, people.  Here's another one.  If this is anything even remotely serious, and it sounds like it more than likely is, then you can get a shovel, dig a hole, and bury this season 6 feet under because it's over and dead.

AB4AR "Best Of The Month" Awards: June 2014

Yankees, your June.  Woof!  That was a stinker, eh?  Coming off a May that wasn't quite as good as April, the Yankees doubled down on regression and really started to play some bad baseball in June.  Overall they went 12-15 with a - 23 run differential, dropping them to 1 game above .500, a game they lost to get July started where June left off.  There was no consistency to the team's play either.  The entire month was a series of short steaks.  Started off losing the first 4 games of the month, then won 2 straight, lost 2 straight, won 4 straight, lost 2 straight, won 4 straight, lost 4 straight, won 2 straight, lost 3 straight.

It's not time to start manning the life boats, not before the trade deadline, but it might be a good idea for all women and children to put on their life jackets.  After the jump, the few spots of brightness from a gloomy month of June.

AB4AR "Best of The Month" Awards: May 2014

In April, the Yankees went 15-11 and outperformed their negative run differential.  The reaction was mostly one of "let's wait and see" heading into May and now that month has been checked off the calendar.  The Yankees posted a 14-14 record in May with a -12 run differential, worse results on both fronts.  The rotation continued to lose key members to injuries, the lineup continued to stagger and sputter and not even come close to clicking as some of its older members saw a dip in production, and once again we're left waiting and seeing what this month will have in store in terms of recovery from injuries and team performance.  There was a lot of "blah" in May, but as always, there were the players,  plays, and games that stood out for the better.  My picks for the best of the best after the jump.

Examining Tanaka's Performance On Different Rest Schedules

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

Almost a third of the way through the 2014 season, it would be hard to call Masahiro Tanaka's first year as a Yankee anything but spectacular thus far.  In 10 starts, he's pitched to a 2.29/2.61/2.30 slash in 70.2 innings with 79 strikeouts and only 10 walks.  His 28.5% K rate is tied with Zack Greinke for the best in MLB.  His splitter might already be the single best pitch in baseball.  He's got a 48.2% K rate on it and only a .318 OPS against.  He's quickly become not only the most must-see player on the Yankees and their unquestioned ace in the face of all their rotation injuries, he's also become one of the must-see players in the entire league and one of the best pitchers in the game.

One of the biggest things the Yankees wanted to do with Tanaka this season was ease him into the transition from the Japanese Leagues to MLB.  A major part of that easing was the extra rest Joe said he wanted to give him early in the season to get Tanaka's body and arm used to pitching every fifth day.  Through both smart strategic and lucky weather-related decisions, Joe has employed that strategy perfectly through the first 2 months.  Tanaka has made 6 of his 10 starts with 1 day or more of extra rest, and the extra time off actually has him 1 start behind almost every other top starting pitcher.  The rest has certainly helped keep Tanaka fresh and served the purpose of scaling back his early workload, but has it made a difference in his performance?  Let's check the numbers.

What Was Tanaka's Problem Last Night?

(Courtesy of Texas Leaguers)

In a nutshell, that's it right there.  Bad sinker command.  Tanaka couldn't get his sinker down in the zone last night, he gave up 3 leadoff hits on the pitch, and all 3 of those hits came around to score.  It wasn't like the Cubs knocked him all over the park.  The 4 runs they scored against Tanaka came on 2 GB singles and 2 sac flies.  But they did hit him fairly hard and it was what they did against his off sinker that set them up.  That and the flat slider that Tanaka couldn't get down when he needed to either.

The strategy was exactly what I expected it to be.  Tanaka threw more 4-seamers and more sliders than he did the first time he faced the Cubs.  He just didn't execute his pitches as well this time.  It happens.

Tanaka Faces His First Repeat Opponent Tonight

(Almost none of those were hit hard.  Courtesy of Texas Leaguers)

The last time Masahiro Tanaka faced the Chicago Cubs was the first time he faced the Cubs.  It was his 3rd career Major League start and arguably his best one to date, even after his complete game shutout against the Mets last week.  He went 8 shutout innings on that day last month, allowing only a pair of infield singles with 1 walk and 10 strikeouts.

Tonight Tanaka makes his 9th career start and once again he'll be facing the Cubs.  This start will mark the first time that a team has gotten a second look at him, and with the way Tanaka has altered his approach from team to team and the way he worked against the Cubs on 4/16, it will be worth paying attention to how he changes things up this time.

Too Much Tanaka

Masahiro Tanaka threw 114 pitches last night, 76 for strikes.  He mostly threw 4-seamers and splitters (57.9%), but mixed in plenty of sliders and sinkers as well.  By now, you know how well he managed throwing those 114 pitches, but look at the location of his offspeed stuff and understand why he was able to be so dominant last night:

That's the splitter plot, sweet MS Paint circle added by me for effect.  Of the 29 splits Tanaka threw last night, only those 3 in the middle of the zone were really good pitches to hit.  Over half of them weren't even in the strike zone and yet Tanaka got 15 swings and 6 whiffs.  That's nasty.

AB4AR "Best Of The Month" Awards: April 2014

Just like that, 1 month of baseball in the books.  The Yankees wrapped up April with another rainout last night, and they find themselves sitting atop the AL East mountain as the only team above .500.  Their 15-11 record doesn't match up to their -11 run differential, but it's too early in the season to put any real meaning in run differential.  If anything, that number illustrates how inconsistent the Yankees were in the later part of the month, getting blown out by 10+ runs one day and then winning a 3-2 game the next.  They still don't have their offense clicking and their rotation situation has taken a turn for the worst, so to have a 2-game division lead despite all of that is plenty fine with me.  After the jump, the best of the month that was in Yankeeland.

The Good And Bad Of Tanaka In Four At-Bats

(Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

You wouldn't be wrong to call last night the worst of Masahiro Tanaka's 4 outings thus far.  He was uneven with his command at times, he gave up a few 2-out hits, and he gave up back-to-back solo home runs in the bottom of the 4th on 2 badly missed fastballs.  You would be wrong, however,  if you called last night's outing a bad one.  Despite the inconsistencies and homers, Tanaka was efficient with his pitch count and worked into the 8th, allowing only those 2 runs, striking out 7 while walking nobody, and picking up his 3rd win of the year.

The Red Sox got their first look at Tanaka and they had to walk away impressed.  He showcased all his pitches again, mixing them up at all different times in the count, he threw a lot of early strikes to work from ahead or even in the count and keep the guessing game going on their end, and he registered double digit swinging strikes again with an even dozen.  Tanaka was very, very good again, and I thought he showed what makes him special and legitimate and also what things he still has to learn about facing MLB hitters in his first 4 encounters with Boston's 2 best hitters.

First Big Test For Tanaka Tonight

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

We've seen him struggle a little bit early in games and then find his stuff and dominate late.  We've seen him handle 2 relatively deep and powerful divisional lineups with 2 completely different approaches and then watched him manhandle a shallower NL lineup.  In 3 starts, Masahiro Tanaka has been everything the Yankees and their fans hoped he would be.  He's been the best starter in the rotation and his early success provides a measurable amount of confidence that the team can absorb and overcome the loss of Ivan Nova.

Tonight he'll face his first "real" test as a Yankee when he takes the mound in Fenway to open another series with the Red Sox against their ace Jon Lester.  There's nothing on the line in the grand scheme of things, but like it or not, Yankee pitchers are always judged in part based on how they perform against the Sox.  The Sox were connected to Tanka this past offseason, albeit not nearly as closely as New York, and their fans will remember that and see Tanaka as another case of the big budget Yankees "stealing" a player away with their money.

The environment will be hostile, the lights will be bright, and the opposing lineup will have more than a few dangerous, experienced, smart hitters in it.  Tanaka's already aced his first few Major League quizzes.  He takes his first test tonight in his first true taste of the Yanks-Sox experience.  Based on what I've seen so far, I'm expecting him to score well.

What To Expect From Tanaka Tomorrow

(Courtesy of the AP)

Masahiro Tanaka returns to the hill tonight tomorrow for his 3rd Major League start.  His first 2 have been nothing short of impressive.  He's shown good velocity, next-level movement, plus command, competitiveness, and as evidenced by Mike Axisa's post on RAB yesterday, the mind for the game and balls to throw any pitch in any situation.

How he's gone about showing all those things off in 2 games has been fun to watch.  On 4/4 against the Blue Jays, Tanaka threw 97 pitches and managed to throw all 7 of the pitches he knows: 30 sinkers, 24 splitters, 18 sliders, 12 4-seam fastballs, 7 curveballs, 5 cutters, and 1 changeup.  He showed off the whole arsenal to a deep and powerful lineup, got 13 swinging strikes, 8 Ks, and a win.

It's Tanaka Time

(Courtesy of the AP)

The initial Tanaka Watch was a success.  Tanaka Watch 2014 was equally successful.  Since arriving at Spring Training the anticipation has only grown for his officially official MLB debut, and based on what we've already seen it's a safe bet to assume that the excitement isn't going to die down anytime soon.

And now tonight, after 5 ST games, 21.0 ST innings pitched, and 26 ST strikeouts, Masahiro Tanaka will take the mound and make his first meaningful start as a New York Yankee.  It's a big night tonight anyway you look at it, and based on his reputation for pitching his best when the lights are the brightest, we could be in for a show.

Go get 'em tonight, Ma-kun.  We're all cheering for you.

2014 Storylines: Tanakapalooza!

(Courtesy of Corey Sipkin/NY Daily News)

The last time the Yankees tried to make a big splash on the international free agent market, they shelled out $46 million to a guy who looked like Droopy Dog and didn't even bother to verify what his pitch mix was.  That experiment predictably went down in flames and they'd been pretty quiet on the international front since then.

This past offseason, when the newest Japanese pitching sensation was available, the Yanks did a complete 180 from the Kei Igawa disaster.  They were in on this pitcher from the start, scouting more of his NPB games than any other MLB team, getting feedback from scouts, coaches, and players who had played with him, and engaging his agent on contract talks almost as soon as possible.  As we came to find out later, they'd actually been following this pitcher for years, preparing for the day when he would be eligible to jump to MLB.  All that due diligence worked to their advantage, and on January 22nd, 2014 the Yankees reaped the benefits by signing 25-year-old Masahiro Tanaka to a 7-year/$155 million deal.

In the 2-ish months that have passed, Tanaka has come to the states, joined the team at Spring Training, and began his transition to playing Major League Baseball.  Nothing he has done so far has been a small deal in the media and it comes as no surprise that everything he will do this season will be a huge deal.

A Tale Of Two Adjusting Pitchers

(Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

It was another tandem activity day for CC Sabathia and Masahiro Tanaka yesterday, in what may or may not be a strategic move by Joe.  Flip-flopping the plan from last Thursday, when Sabathia threw a sim game and Tanaka got the Grapefruit start, it was Tanaka who threw the sim in the morning and Sabathia who took the hill against real competition in the afternoon.  Their results and the manner in which they achieved them could not have been more different and provide a perfect view of 2 divergent pitching career paths.

That'll Do, Ma-kun. That'll Do

(Courtesy of Kim Klement/ USA Today Sports)

It was the most hyped Yankee debut in some time, and Masahiro Tanaka didn't disappoint.  Entering after CC and Hirok each threw 2 scoreless innings, Tanaka worked a scoreless 5th and 6th.  He allowed a pair of singles, didn't walk anybody, and struck out 3, throwing 31 pitches and hitting 93-94 on the gun with his 4-seamer.  According to some of the beat guys, he was also throwing sliders, curveballs, changeup, and his famed splitter.

Hard to ask for anything better than that.  He looked good, his stuff and command were there, and he came through the outing healthy.  Now it's time to start get excited about his next appearance.

Getting Stoked For Tanaka's Spring Training Outings

(Courtesy of the AP)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

Later today, the Yankees will take the field for their Spring Training opener against Florida State.  Vidal Nuno will get the ball to start and he'll be followed up by Ivan Nova, David Phelps, and Adam Warren over the next 3 games. The competition for the 5th starter spot will be the leading storyline for the early ST games, and that's to be expected with that group of pitchers being further along than their veteran counterparts and with the other 4 rotation spots setting in stone.

While he hasn't has his name penciled into a date for his ST debut yet, Masahiro Tanaka took another step towards that debut when he threw his second batting practice session yesterday morning.  As he did after the first session on Friday, Tanaka drew praise from the coaches who watched him and the batters who faced him.  His splitter is already creating a lot of buzz in camp for its sharp movement and how difficult it is to identify coming out of his hand, and each time he throws, more excitement builds for his first outing.  Tanaka added to that excitement after the session when he declared himself ready to pitch in games, a declaration that Joe didn't bite on.  One thing that hasn't been talked about a whole lot yet is Joe's plan for Tanaka this spring, and as the pieces of that plan start to formulate I find myself caught between the desire for Joe to be smart, rational, and strategic and the desire to see him unleash Tanaka and make a statement to the rest of the AL.

The Legend Of Tanaka's Splitter Grows

McCann said Tanaka's splitter "falls off the table." But, more importantly, his motion on the splitter is exactly the same as on fastball.
— Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES) February 21, 2014

Austin Romine after facing Tanaka during live BP this a.m.: ''I'm glad he's on our team. His split...I've never seen anything like that.''
— Pete Caldera (@pcaldera) February 21, 2014

Austin Romine on Tanaka's Splitter: "I had to turn around & ask what the pitch was. Never seen a ball move like that before. It’s special"
— Daniel Barbarisi (@DanBarbarisi) February 21, 2014

Austin Romine's reaction on first seeing Masahiro Tanaka's splitter: "Wooooo!''
— wallace matthews (@ESPNNYYankees) February 21, 2014

Some more fun facts about Masahiro Tanaka's splitter: It actually rotates clockwise and counter-clockwise at the same time, it was Tanaka's best man at his wedding, it was originally supposed to be involved in a program with CM Punk for Wrestlemania before he walked out on the WWE, and in some laboratory tests it's shown the ability to slow the spread of cancer cells.  Yes sir, it's going to be something when he starts throwing it in games...

Tanaka Introductory Presser Wrap-Up

(Courtesy of Bryan Hoch)

This was it.  The one we've been waiting for.  The introductory press conference we all secretly hoped would happen this offseason, even if we didn't have the guts to say it out loud.  Masahiro Tanaka was introduced to the NY media at Yankee Stadium today and the spectacle did not disappoint.  Tanaka kicked things off by dropping 195 thou to charter a 787 for himself, his wife, a few buddies, and his pet poodle, which is the best possible thing he could have done to make me a bigger fan of his.  If you missed any of today's festivities, here are the highlights:

Looking Good, Ma-kun

(Courtesy of Mark Feinsand)

Is it me or does everybody just look sharper in a Yankee uniform?  Tanaka burning up the podium right now during his introductory presser.  Can't wait to see him on a mound.

P.S.- Yanks reportedly handed out 200+ press passes for this, more than double what they gave out for McCann, Ellsbury, or Beltran.  PR man said this was their biggest press conference since Hideki Matsui's introductory one in '03.  Crazy.