New York Yankees: Could Masahiro Tanaka be Trade Bait?
By Jason Evans
With a pending opt-out and injury history, could Masahiro Tanaka be a candidate to be traded by the New York Yankees?
A re-tooling of the New York Yankees began this summer with all of the trades during the season and prospects that got their chance during the second half of the season as they managed to stay in contention for a Wild Card spot. The Yankees farm system rose into one of the best and now it’s up to those kids to truly bloom.
As you will read time and again throughout the off-season, the free agent market for starting pitching stinks. Plain and simple. So, if a team wants to upgrade their rotation, you will see a ton of trade activity.
Because of this, could the Yankees float Masahiro Tanaka out to teams in trade discussions? Tanaka can opt-out of his deal after next season, which if he pitches like he did last season he certainly will. They could get a ton for him in return. The Cubs, Dodgers, Rangers, Red Sox, Astros and Cardinals would fall over themselves trying to land him.
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If Brian Cashman gets a “Godfather offer” (an offer he can’t refuse for those of you who inexplicably haven’t seen that movie) then I think he should do it. I think the Yankees, much like this year, are going to be a fringe contending team. Tanaka is a tradeable asset who can net them more than what Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman did at this year’s trade deadline.
Tanaka in 2016 was third in WAR, third in ERA, fifth in WHIP, fifth in FIP and seventh in WPA.
The problem is the Yankees don’t have much else in the rotation. Michael Pineda is a roller coaster. Nathan Eovaldi is out for next season. CC Sabathia is a number four or five starter at this point and then the rest of the rotation is young arms like Luis Cessa, Luis Severino, Bryan Mitchell and Chad Green.
Because of this, I think the only time Tanaka would truly be available would be towards next year’s trade deadline. The Yankees will of course try to contend as they do every year and in order to do that, they will need a healthy Tanaka at the top of that rotation. Like in 2016, the Yankees can evaluate where they are at and then make deals accordingly.
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Until that time, I can’t see Tanaka being available, though the off-season I’m sure, will be full of surprises.