YANKEES SHOULDN'T GO INTO THE SEASON "CONCERNED"

Leave it to the brilliant Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record to throw a nugget into yet another great piece.  On Saturday, he put out Yankees' Masahiro Tanaka confident he’s healthy entering 2015, and in it, wrote:

"Girardi singled out Tanaka and veteran CC Sabathia – limited to eight starts last season because of a degenerative knee condition – as the two starters “you have concerns about.” Only a succession of worry-free pitching days will ease that concern."

Sometimes I feel like Caldera is just planting this stuff so I can find it and write about it on BYB.  I kid... but here's my concern... There were opportunities to pick up a top starter this off season... despite what you think, the Yankees have the money. Yet... we didn't.  We stockpiled arms and crossed our fingers and in the end, are hoping it all works out.

Now, I believe in confidence, and while I know that Joe and Yankee brass believe Tanaka and CC can handle it this season... do they? I mean, you really have to think about what happens if CC's knee breaks down and Tanaka, who believes he's fully healed, gets hurt again.  There are some glimmers of hope however.

Tanaka said: “Yes, I feel it’s healed...I’m confident I can get through this season.”

OK, we can take his word for it, but what if he wakes up in March and he's sore and they hold him for 3 weeks and that becomes a month and then he starts to soft toss again but in the midst of that misses opening day?  You know the way the Yankees operate... 1 short stint on the DL becomes 3 months and alot of smoke and mirrors.  Let's hope that doesn't happen. That's always in the back of my mind.

Wally Matthews tweeted some nice pictures of CC Sabathia dealing yesterday:

Sabathia throwing his first bullpen of the spring pic.twitter.com/lu98hkS9bT
— wallace matthews (@ESPNNYYankees) February 21, 2015

Many reporters who saw him throw said he looked damn good.  Again... you gotta wonder what happens over time.  Will he get tired sooner? Can that knee hold up?

I don't like landmines like "concern" coming from the Yankees' mouths when talking about our rotation. I like hearing "confident" like we did from Tanaka.

Yup... I over think it.  That's because these are my boys... the New York Yankees, and after 2 years of not making the post season... well... I just hope they do something big this year, that's all.

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