Masahiro Tanaka is one of the more underrated starters in the game and he will certainly be even more underrated after the Gerrit Cole signing.
He has made around 30 starts in every season since 2016, with an ERA under 4 in half of those seasons.
In 2019 he made the most starts in his career (32), while increasing his innings total in 2019 by almost 30 compared to 2018.
In the postseason, the two time All-Star surrendered four earned runs in three starts (all three were at least five innings) in addition to striking out 12 batters.
Gerrit Cole was GM Brian Cashman’s big white shark this offseason. He flew across the country twice in a week to go see him before he went to San Diego for the Winter Meetings.
Then on the second night of the meetings, Cole signed for $324 million over nine years–a day after Stephen Strasburg helped his cause by inking a $245 million deal to stay with the Washington Nationals.
At his press conference, he brought back the sign he made when he was a kid when he attended the 2001 World Series in Arizona–and that was just a little token that showed how much he wanted to be a Yankee.
Ever since Cole signed with the New York Yankees, they have been the outright World Series favorites and deservedly so.
This team arguably has the best in rotation in the game and could make an argument for having the deepest lineup as well.
But it will all start with Gerrit Cole when he takes the mound for the New York Yankees on Opening Day when they play the Baltimore Orioles.