The ticking time bomb of the Yankees rotation
By: Nick Scott
No doubt, the Yankee
pitching staff is what kept a poor season from being even worse. Despite the
injury and regression of Tanaka, Sabathia, Nova, and Pineda the Yankees managed
to stay afloat largely on the shoulders of the acquired Brandon McCarthy and
the strong performances youngster Shane Greene turned in. As we all know
though, those two are no longer on the team and the rotation has gone from a
strong point to being riddled with question mark after question mark.
1. Tanaka
2. Sabathia
3. Pineda
4. Eovaldi
5. Capuano
Clearly this staff
isn’t blowing anyone away and I want to walk through why each one of the
pitchers is a time bomb waiting to explode and inevitably harm the team.
Masahiro
Tanaka
Masahiro Tanaka was a
welcome addition to many Yankee fans, myself included. However, after being
given a seven year, $155mil deal, Tanaka is bomb waiting to explode and this
bomb is either going to hurt the Yankees or hurt any team that has to come to
the plate against him the next six years.
Tanaka was nothing
short of spectacular his first year in the league posting a 13-5 record as well
as a 2.77 ERA, 140 ERA+, and 140 K’s in 136.1 IP. All you had to do was watch a
game to find Tanaka is a competitive strike throwing machine.
However, disaster
struck and midway through the season as the Japanese phenome was diagnosed with
a partially torn elbow ligament. As we all know this typically results in the
dreaded Tommy John surgery, or at least in cases where it is a complete tear.
Instead of opting for the surgery that results in over a year of
rehabilitation, Tanaka and the team decided to for a sort of injection and
strengthening rehab to heal the injury.
He underwent this
treatment and was able to return for a final start of the season and lasted all
of 1.2 IP while giving up 5 ER and 7H to a lesser than stellar Boston lineup.
Though he tried to downplay it, there’s no possible way you can say his injury
didn’t effect that.
I’m not here to dispute
the ability Tanaka possesses – he’s a top of the rotation starter when healthy.
The issue here is there aren’t too many cases of pitchers coming back from Tommy
John surgery, let alone a lesser rehab, to enjoy the results they had before
the injury. Sure, there have been cases where it has worked out, but there’s
also been a lot where they haven’t. Elbow injuries tend to recur and are always
at risk to be worsened once the first one occurs. Tanaka’s elbow is a muscle
fiber away from being a very expensive mistake for the Yankees and a very
unfortunate occurrence for such a classy and talented player. While I would
love to confidently say Tanaka recovers to record of 200 K’s next year, I just
have a bad feeling it’s not going to happen.
Final
Verdict: Tanaka reinjures his elbow and is forced to undergo
Tommy John surgery.
CC
Sabathia
Boy, oh, boy. CC
Sabathia is one of my favorite players. He plays with a passion and isn’t
afraid to defend his teammates, showing true leadership qualities and desire I
feel is direly lacking on the team. For the first few years in pinstripes he
was also a leader on the playing field, exhibiting true ace qualities that
should’ve earned him a Cy Young award he was robbed of.
However, he is coming
off back to back seasons of a 4.75+ ERA and it has been incredibly difficult to
watch the ever competitive Sabathia struggle so mightily.
Trying to figure out
Sabathia’s struggles has been a popular pastime amongst Yankee fans. Many have
tried to find their explanation for his decline and it feels the general
consensus is that his lack of velocity is behind the problem.
I believe this isn’t
the only the issue, but certainly has a lot to do with it. This in itself has
been something Yankee fans have tried to explain the last two years his well.
His weight loss and injuries of the elbow, shoulder, and knees all play a part
and certainly have some credibility to their assertion.
However, I believe it
is simply the use of being overused. As of this last season, Sabathia has
thrown more innings than ace Roy Halladay did in his entire career. The crazy part? Sabathia has pitched two fewer seasons than Halladay. This is an
insane overuse of his arm and after time that arm strength just goes and I have
to think he will have a hard time getting any better.
As a result of these
issues, many have suggested Sabathia needs to reinvent himself and turn himself
into a Cliff Lee or Barry Zito and focus more on command and location than
blowing it by people. Well, he’s tried and this and for two years it hasn’t
exactly worked.
I myself have a
difficult time seeing Sabathia improving. What reason would anyone have to?
He’s only gotten older and hurt more as time has progressed. My only hope would
stem from the fact he had quite a bit or rest and recovery time this season in
addition to this entire offseason. Perhaps he comes back well rested and he I
able to recover some velocity or pitch effective with that diminished speed to
be at least a 3 or 4 starter.
I’m not hopefully, but
Sabathia is the kind of guy to work as hard as possible to make sure he’s
helping the team, so while he might not blow everyone away, he might be able to
come back and give the Yankees 25 starts and a chance to win half of them.
Final
Verdict: Sabathia pitches 170 IP with a 3.75 ERA
Michael
Pineda:
Before this last season
I predicted that Pineda would be a pretty solid contributor the team. I was,
well, sort of correct. Pineda went 5-5 but had an astounding 1.89 ERA. Long
story short, Pineda was insanely effective, when he was pitching.
So why do I think
there’s an issue with a guy who in my mind could be an ace or solid two starter
when he’s healthy? Well again, health is an issue.
Pineda was only able to
make 13 starts this year due to an injury occurred during a start he was making
outside the majors as a result of his suspension for quite obviously using pine
tar on his neck in several games to start the season.
This isn’t the first
time Pineda has had serious injury issue as said injuries had kept him from
playing in pinstripes since his acquisition in the 2011 offseason. He only
compounded these issues by tagging on a DUI during that period.
Pineda is a great
talent, don’t get me wrong, but he has some serious issues with injury and I
would say maturity that really worry me. However, maybe this is the year he
makes 25 starts for the first time since 2011.
Final
Verdict: Pineda pitches to 13-5 in 24 starts with a 2.30 ERA
and misses some time for an injury
Nathan
Eovaldi
This one gives me
headaches. The Yankees recently traded away the very solid Martin Prado, who
can play most positions and hits very well, for the pitcher that led the league
in hits allowed this past season. He gave up 223 hits in 199.2 IP to be exact.
This is downright horrible and he has averaged 203 hits allowed every year of his
career.
Despite this Eovaldi
has generally been considered a guy with upside in the league the last few
years, though I feel that has been thoroughly disproved. He throws hard and was
in the top of the league in average fastball velocity the last year and many
sources have reported the Yankees love guys who throw gas.
Velocity is a doubled
edged sword. Obviously, if you throw it harder, the batter has less time to
react, therefore it is harder to hit. On the flipside, even weak swing result
in bullets off the bat if a high velocity ball is lined up and this is clearly
Eovaldi’s issue as scouts have said his fastball comes in “straight as an
arrow.”
I don’t have a lot of
confidence in this turning out favorably for the Yankees. I think they made a
boneheaded move trading a proven hitter/utility man for Eovaldi, a decent
prospect in Domingo German, and a beyond horrible first baseman in Garrett
Jones. I get the “Yankees need to get younger yada-yada-ya” stuff, but younger
doesn’t mean more talented, and if it indeed isn’t that’s simply more potential
years you are stuff with a poor performer.
The only hope here is
that in working with the Yankee pitching coach he is able to develop some run
on that fastball to compliment some better command for better results. That
needs to happen or it’s going to be real ugly, especially in the AL East. We
can hope because he’s young, but do not count on this one.
Final
Verdict: Eovaldi gets shelled for 230 hits in 200 IP with a
4.71 ERA
Chris
Capuano
I really don’t
understand this one. There were plenty of other cheaper, better options for
starting pitching available on the market, but instead the Yankees re-signed
Chris Capunao and intend on making him a starter, as of this point.
Capuano had 2 wins in
12 starts with the bombers last season for a record of 2-3. There is a serious
issue here, because he only lasted roughly 5 innings per start as evidenced by
his lack of decisions. This creates a ton of stress on the bullpen when it has
to pick up 4 IP every time he makes a start.
He’s posted over a 4.00 ERA the past two years and hasn’t thrown more than 105 IP in that time either.
This one should be
pretty apparent. If the Yankees seriously intend to use Capuano as a starter,
it’s not going to be good for the team.
Final
Verdict: Capuano is released or traded half way through the
season
What
Does All This Mean?
My point here is the
Yankees pitching staff has developed a lot of holes these past few months and
they’ve made some questionable and quite frankly poor attempts to fill them.
The Yankees have a need for another top of the rotation pitcher and honestly
Max Scherzer is the perfect fit. He’s an ace on the market and the Yankees
wouldn’t lose a draft pick as they were compensated for David Robertson’s departure.
He’s a star talent that only costs money. And don’t give me any of that
“Yankees need to save money” garbage. The team won’t be under the luxury tax
cap for a while and there’s no sense in being over that cap if it isn’t funding
talent to compete, of which the Yankees don’t have enough of in the rotation.
James Shields and Cole
Hamels are out there as well as named such as Jordan Zimmermann and Johnny
Cueto. I’m not saying these Yankees should get them all, but the point is
someone of an ace caliber is needed or this is going to be a disastrous season.
The team already had an overtaxed bullpen with a far superior staff last season
and with the current staff that is only going to get worse.
The Yankees need to get
serious about their pitching staff.
Follow me on twitter @RealYanksFans
All stats and info
provided via Baseball-Reference.com and ESPN.com
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