New York Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka recently threw off a mound for the first time since undergoing arthroscopic elbow surgery back in October. While he's making good progress, it's unclear if he'll be ready for Opening Day.
The right-hander has been limited during his first two MLB seasons due to various injuries, most notably his partially torn UCL that sidelined him for most of the second half of 2014. He required maintenance on the elbow this offseason and had a bone spur removed, which has also limited him for the past four months.
When asked about his status for Opening Day, Tanaka was unable to give a definitive response.
"Can't really say," Tanaka told The Associated Press through a translator. "We'll take it day by day. I feel that I can't really talk about that at this point. I just want to see myself go into the bullpen, get the innings in and see how I feel."
"I'm still at the stage of building myself up toward the season, but I feel it's going to be a better season."
Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild said last week everything was going well with Tanaka's rehab process. However, because Tanaka been limited up until this point, the timetable for his 2016 debut is in question. While there were no reported problems following his first bullpen session since the surgery, he'll have a lot of proving to do when pitchers and catchers report next week.
The fragility of the Yankees' rotation is going to be a notable storyline for the 2016 MLB season. All eyes will be on Tanaka, whose $155 million arm has only been able to make 44 starts in his first two MLB seasons. He's 25-12 with a 3.16 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 280 strikeouts in 290-1/3 innings, but the Yankees will need him to make at least 30 starts if they want to further their playoff push next season.
New York's season could very well depend on the health of their pitching staff, as they'll be hoping Michael Pineda, Nathan Eovaldi, CC Sabathia and others can spend most of their time on the mound rather than the disabled list.
