The New York Yankees have placed their ace Masahiro Tanaka on the disabled list with a forearm strain, even though he underwent tests because he felt pain in his wrist. Last season he missed a huge chunk of the season with a partially torn UCL, and evidence is mounting that he will eventually have to undergo Tommy John surgery.
Tanaka's MRI showed a small forearm strain so he will be placed on the 15-day DL.
— Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES) April 29, 2015
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman wouldn't rule it out when discussing the decision to put Tanaka on the DL. "Could be. I couldn't tell you. No one can answer that question," Cashman said.
Tanaka fully denied the problem stems from his elbow. "Personally, I don't think this has anything to do with my elbow,'' the right-hander said. Per The New York Post, other pitchers are less optimistic and, to them, the surgery seems inevitable.
"Sorry for Tanaka but I saw this coming," Pedro Martinez tweeted, while former Oakland A's star Mark Mulder said "If you played Little League you could see this coming.''
There was also trouble on the horizon before Opening Day, when Tanaka said he'd be limiting the usage of his four-seam fastball to reduce pressure on his elbow. He said that fans should expect decreased velocity, and tracking his pitches revealed he was leaning heavily on two-seam fastballs and his vaunted splitter.
He's still been effective. In 22.1 innings he's gone 2-1 with a 3.22 ERA. While that doesn't match his electric start to 2014, his K/9 is actually higher that it was last season, although he's walking a batter more per nine. He was also allowing far more fly balls this season, a recipe for trouble in homer-happy Yankee Stadium.
For now, the Yanks have not announced any plans for him to undergo surgery though and manager Joe Girardi offered nothing in the way of speculation about when he'd return to the mound.
"You know what, I don't have a time frame. We get him back when we get him back," Girardi said.
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