Ace-less in The Bronx.
The Yankees open the 2016 season Monday with Masahiro Tanaka on the Yankee Stadium mound, hoping once again that the right-hander can somehow be their ace. Déjà vu all over again.
Ever since partially tearing a ligament in his elbow two years ago, Tanaka has not been the pitcher the Yankees were hoping to get when they signed him as a free agent to a seven-year, $155 million deal.
At this point, they would settle for someone who can just get them to their bullpen.
The beauty of baseball is that there are so many ways to win, but the one constant has to be strong starting pitching. Baseball is a game of aces, and the Yankees have a future ace in Luis Severino. Scouts are in agreement with that.
“He’s the best starter on the staff,’’ one veteran scout told The Post on Sunday.
Severino should be getting this start, but because Tanaka is being paid so much money and has the veteran status he gets the Opening Day assignment.
Tanaka had an uneven spring coming off surgery to remove a bone spur in his pitching elbow.
“He looked like a guy who was holding back,’’ the scout said. “I didn’t see anything out of him this spring that showed greatness. He’s got really good stuff, but I didn’t see it. His ball just didn’t have the movement it usually does.’’
Tanaka, 27, has dropped in velocity because of his elbow problems. If he loses late break on his pitches, especially his splitter, Tanaka and the Yankees are in serious trouble.
The Yankees need a thousand innings from their starting staff to keep their gifted bullpen fresh. If they can get that, the Yankees will have a chance to win the AL East. If the starters can’t give them enough innings, the extra workload will take its toll on Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman once he returns from his 30-game suspension.
And it has to start with Tanaka on Monday against the Astros and Dallas Keuchel, the team and pitcher who beat the Yankees and Tanaka in the wild-card game last October. This is a game that carries weight.
An ace has to carry the day, Opening Day.
Tanaka was the Yankees starter last year on Opening Day and got beat by the mighty Blue Jays, giving up five runs, four earned.
The confidence factor is not there with Tanaka, simply because of the elbow issues. It has not been an easy transition to Major League Baseball for him despite his 25-12 record with a 3.16 ERA.
Too often, Tanaka does not challenge the hitters.
“It seems like he is trying to finesse you, trying to outthink the hitter,’’ one scout said.
Therein lies the essential problem with Tanaka. Perhaps because of the injuries, Tanaka has lost confidence in his own abilities a bit. He offered this comment after his last start which seems to sum up where his head is at right now:
“That last outing kind of gave me the confidence to go into the season,’’ Tanaka said.
Those are not words you usually hear from true aces going into a season, but Tanaka has created doubt about his ability because of the injury issues.
“When you have any type of surgery that kind of sticks in the back of your mind for a while,’’ the scout said. “This spring he looked like a pitcher who didn’t really want to let it go.’’
It got to the point both manager Joe Girardi and pitching coach Larry Rothschild told Tanaka to “dial it up’’ against the Phillies in his last spring training start.
Tanaka is getting the Opening Day start again so Girardi and Rothschild are satisfied that Tanaka did just that. Still, Tanaka needs to have a big outing in a big game to regain the trust of his own team.
He can do that on Monday. Time to pitch like an ace.
Or he could create even more doubt.