NEW YORK -- New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi still does not know when -- or even if -- he will be able to use his ace, Masahiro Tanaka, in one more regular-season game before the postseason begins, but Girardi does know this: If Tanaka, who has been sidelined with a hamstring strain, is unable to get on the mound by Thursday, he will have made his last start before the Yankees' likely appearance in a one-game wildcard game Oct. 6.
That would put 18 days between Tanaka's last start and his -- and the Yankees' -- most important game of the season. But on Friday, Tanaka reported continuing pain in his right hamstring, which he strained running the bases against the Mets on Sept. 18, and Girardi said Tanaka had still not engaged in fielding drills, a necessary step before the Yankees would put him back on the mound.
Girardi said Tanaka would not do that before Monday -- Girardi had not spoken with him yet on Sunday morning -- which means Tanaka could not start before Tuesday at the earliest, a date Girardi would not commit to even if Tanaka came through a Monday workout OK.
“That’s something we have to decide on how he feels," Girardi said. "I know everyone wants an answer, but it’s really not that simple because of his value to us moving forward. It’s something you have to weigh. Is it worth the risk maybe moving it up a day or two days if you need him, to what could possibly happen? It’s a careful situation that we’re trying to manage. I wish I knew, really.”
Girardi did say, however, that if Tanaka was unable to start by Thursday's game against the Red Sox -- aside from Ivan Nova starting the series opener on Monday, the Yankees' entire rotation is TBA -- Tanaka would not be given another start this season in order to have him fully rested for the wildcard game Oct. 6. The manager did raise the possibility that he could use Tanaka for an inning or so, possibly in relief, in one of the final four games of the season.
"Maybe have him pitch an inning because it’s been so long since he’s been out there," Girardi said. "But Thursday would be the cutoff (for a start)."
The extended time off could work to Tanaka's advantage; in seven MLB career starts with six or more days of rest, he is 6-1 with a 2.78 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 45 1/3 innings, by far the highest strikeout-per-nine-innings rate (10.1) of his two-year big-league career.
