The Yankees announced that they have designated pitcher Chaz Roe for assignment. In a related move, Masahiro Tanaka has been reinstated from the 60-day disabled list to make his start today against the Blue Jays.
Roe, 27, was acquired by the Yankees from the Marlins on August 31st. In his season at Triple-A New Orleans, Roe posted a 3.66 ERA with 10.1 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in 64 innings of relief. Prior to joining the Yanks, his only big-league experience came in 2013, when he pitched 22 1/3 innings for the Diamondbacks, posting a 4.03 ERA with a respectable 9.7 K/9 and 5.2 BB/9. Roe made three appearances for the Bombers this year.
As the DFA Tracker shows, Roe and Eury Perez are the only players currently in DFA limbo.
I still wish they just shut Tanaka down…
As an O’s fan I have no problem if the Yankees want to jeopardize the career of their ace pitcher, but as a baseball fan I have to question their thinking. Why force the issue with Tanaka with almost nothing to gain? At most he gets two starts and at worst he’s not 100%, ends up having TJ surgery and is lost for all of 2015. I haven’t heard one Yankee voice say Tanaka’s arm is completely healed. This sounds like one incredible risk with very little upside and far more downside.
He has been resting completely since the beginning of July. I think it’s good just for him getting out there a few times before the year is out.
A game situation will allow them to judge how he is doing, and they want TJ surgery done now if it will be anytime in the near future.
The doctors told Yankees that Tanaka doesn’t need surgery and just needed rehab. He’s done the rehab and is now the time to get tested on the mound. During the broadcast, Kay(I think) said that the whole point of the rehab was to strengthen everything else so that the arm doesn’t tear even more. Right now, Tanaka’s tear is less than 10%, and it will never heal back up unless Tanaka gets surgery. There’s been pitchers out there who have had the same thing happen to Tanaka and last 3-5 years before they needed TJ.
Of course, anything can happen to where Tanaka can blow out his arm during spring training, but shit happens. Everything that Yankees are doing right now is fine.
I don’t know how much the Yankees are really going to figure out about Tanaka over 2 starts but they already chose the path when they decided to rest him instead of getting him Tommy John back in July/August. They might as well see what his stuff looks like and how his arm reacts before the season is over. If things are well, I guess you let him to continue to rehab. If things don’t look good maybe he should get the surgery in November with an eye towards 2016. I’m rooting for him as he seems like a good guy and has proved to be an excellent MLB starter when healthy.
He could pitch several more years without needing the surgery though.
He very well could. Even with all the medical advances with UCL ligaments no one can be positive when/if that ligament will fully go. It really is a tricky ethical question; what a pitcher like Tanaka is supposed to do when the ligament is partially torn. I hope it heals up well and he has a nice run in New York. I’d hate to see him pitch a third of next season at less than reasonable health get the surgery in June/July and not see him really return until 2017. Hopefully he pitches well all through his current contract and beyond without needing the surgery.
David Huff still has a job.