For those unfamiliar, Tanaka is a 25 year old Japanese phenom pitcher. We have seen the likes of Yu Darvish, Hisashi Iwakuwa come into the American League, and dominate for the greater the part right upon arrival. The scary thing is Tanaka has been better than the last two Japanese pitchers before heading to Major League Baseball. This also means he was worth more than these two players with New York ponying up 155 million dollars over seven years for someone who has never pitched in Major League Baseball. Is this a significant risk? Yes, it is but it could pay off for New York in a big way.
In the last three years in Japan, Tanaka's ERA has not been over 1.90 with barely walking anyone, and he only gave up six home runs in 2013. While his SO/9 ratio went down in the last couple of years, his BB/9 also went down meaning Tanaka is pitching a little more to contact and not trying to strike out everyone. Which would be evident as in 2011, he has 241 strikeouts, a career-high for Tanaka although he does not have those numbers across the board. While some feel the money given to Tanaka will be only worth it if the Yankees make the playoffs this season, it is true at a smaller scale, more so the expectation is he will be great right away versus suffering through the usual rookie up's and down's.
New York now established front-line pitching staff, and if they can avoid injuries, American League East has another team competing for the crown making it on paper look like the hardest division in baseball. All five of those teams are definitely 80 win teams without question with four them probably worthy of 85. Yet New York really needs to at least make it look like to their fan base, they are the ones with the grandest things similar to a family who needs an Escalade, 80" HD TV, biggest house and all of the finer things even if maybe they are not the most stable group of people. There is no telling all of the pieces New York brought in, Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran and now Tanaka, are all going to come together and mesh like they are supposed to plus with precedent showing it does not always work out. The weird thing is even if New York struggles next year, they can at least look at their fans and say 'we tried.'
The last statement is very important especially if Boston or Tampa Bay makes another run this season because at least, it looks like on the surface, New York made an attempt to build a better team instead of sitting on their hands not doing anything. The surface level comfort of knowing this will keep the front office and some of the fans pleased at least for the time being.
Charlie.
In the last three years in Japan, Tanaka's ERA has not been over 1.90 with barely walking anyone, and he only gave up six home runs in 2013. While his SO/9 ratio went down in the last couple of years, his BB/9 also went down meaning Tanaka is pitching a little more to contact and not trying to strike out everyone. Which would be evident as in 2011, he has 241 strikeouts, a career-high for Tanaka although he does not have those numbers across the board. While some feel the money given to Tanaka will be only worth it if the Yankees make the playoffs this season, it is true at a smaller scale, more so the expectation is he will be great right away versus suffering through the usual rookie up's and down's.
New York now established front-line pitching staff, and if they can avoid injuries, American League East has another team competing for the crown making it on paper look like the hardest division in baseball. All five of those teams are definitely 80 win teams without question with four them probably worthy of 85. Yet New York really needs to at least make it look like to their fan base, they are the ones with the grandest things similar to a family who needs an Escalade, 80" HD TV, biggest house and all of the finer things even if maybe they are not the most stable group of people. There is no telling all of the pieces New York brought in, Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran and now Tanaka, are all going to come together and mesh like they are supposed to plus with precedent showing it does not always work out. The weird thing is even if New York struggles next year, they can at least look at their fans and say 'we tried.'
The last statement is very important especially if Boston or Tampa Bay makes another run this season because at least, it looks like on the surface, New York made an attempt to build a better team instead of sitting on their hands not doing anything. The surface level comfort of knowing this will keep the front office and some of the fans pleased at least for the time being.
Charlie.
