WHAT'S NEXT FOR TANAKA? WHO KNOWS!

It's January 2021 and I am officially impatient. The Yankees haven't made any big moves outside of Socrates Brito.....YAY! (note the sarcasm). To make my Yankee pitching paranoia worse than it already is, there are so many rumors going around Masahiro Tanaka that it is making my head spin.

Maybe you read THIS story on New Years Eve like I did. Then maybe you read THIS story like I did two days later. Both stories both cite that the Yankees first priority is re-signing DJ LeMahieu and we've heard that for months now but what about Tanaka?

At the end of the day, Tanaka is going to do what is best for him. Does he have a strong preference to stay with the Yankees? I think so. He could've opted out of his contract with us back in 2017 but he didn't. He wanted to stay a Yankee so I wouldn't be surprised if he still has a strong preference to stay with us. But at the same time, I don't think he will take a "Yankees or bust" attitude as was previously reported.

Instead, I really believe this translated tweet sounds more like Tanaka. I say translated because, I'm not sure how many of us can read Japanese.

"At this stage, we are not limiting the teams we want to play [for] next season, but we are thinking [about] all the teams that are interested in us."

Tanaka has been a good teammate who is well liked and respected and he shouldn't limit his opportunities. He may not be a top of the rotation guy anymore, but he's been extremely reliable for the Yankees. Outside of Gerrit Cole, the Yankees have nothing but question marks. Jordan Montgomery and Deivi Garcia are still unproven. Any good outings they get from Luis Severino or Domingo German should be considered a bonus.

I really hope the Yankees will open up their wallets and give Tanaka another deal. I hope we get DJ back also but let's face it....it's not enough if we don't address our pitching problem. We can help fix that problem with Tanaka.

  --Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

     BYB Managing Editor

    Twitter: @nyprincessj