MASAHIRO TANAKA HAS "BIGGER WORRIES" APPARENTLY

(Photo Credit: Charles Wenzelberg)
OK. Provocative headline... I'm in.

The New York Post wrote Wild Masahiro Tanaka has bigger worries than Opening Day, and Dan Martin writes that Tanaka:

"... spent parts of both seasons in New York on the disabled list, and after making 20 starts in 2014, Tanaka made it to just 24 a year ago. 

'If I’m healthy and able to get all my starts in, I should be [at] 32,' Tanaka said through an interpreter. 'The goal is to get there.'

Tanaka has never been able to reach that number, including in Japan.

In his seven seasons with Rakuten, Tanaka topped out at 28 starts, which he did as an 18-year-old rookie. And he only got to 200 innings twice while pitching in Japan.

'Everybody wants their pitchers to go 200 innings,' Brian McCann said after catching Tanaka on Thursday. 'That’s the next step for him.'"

And so, that's the goal, 32 games, but of course when you say that, the fan base begins to think about the elbow.  I mean, we all know the elbow is fine, at least that's what the doctors have said and that's what's being reported after each outing... but again, combining a goal like that, the wear and tear, pardon the pun, and you have to think about if this guy can actually be effective and do what he wants to do... considering he's never done it before.

Bottom line, I worry. I probably worry too much.  The Yankees have a pretty decent starting rotation, and there are question marks... more than other seasons.  Tanaka appears fine, but this is a guy that the Yankees have never officially called an ace, even though he kind of is.  But the ace even has a question mark.  I hate that.

Anyway, an interesting story by the Post. You should all check it out.

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