After a season of lurching from one disappointment to another, the New York Yankees have yet another reason to follow Eric Idle’s exhortation to “always look on the bright side of life”.
With their play-off chances just a memory and Derek Jeter’s grand send-off complete, the most pressing matter for the club is the health of Masahiro Tanaka. Question marks hung over the Japanese pitcher’s health in his return from a “partial tear” of the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow, and those concerns intensified after Tanaka gave up seven runs while recording five outs on 50 pitches against the Boston Red Sox on Saturday.
Tanaka’s manager, Joe Girardi, said the pitcher’s elbow was fine and his struggles were due to a lack of sharpness. His control was wayward, and his split-fingered fastball lacked bite.
Assuming Tanaka is not putting on a show of stoicism, the Yankees appear to have made the right call in rehabbing their US$155 million (Dh569.3m) investment’s injury rather than opting for reconstructive surgery, which would shelve him for almost 18 months. Tanaka finishes his debut season in the US at 13-5 with a 2.77 earned-run average, 141 strikeouts and 21 walks.
That will not ease minds at Yankees headquarters, though. Any relief from Tanaka’s showing in his first comeback start, against Toronto, was dashed in the thrashing in Boston. Until spring training starts, in February, visions of busted ligaments will be dancing in Yankees executives’ heads.
pfreelend@thenational.ae
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