Comments on: Don’t Bring Me Down

By: weeping for brunnhilde

weeping for brunnhilde — Wed, 08 Apr 2015 22:33:37 +0000

That conclusion sure doesn’t inspire confidence:

“It’s probably too much to hope for addition by subtraction, but if Tanaka’s partially torn ligament doesn’t hurt his command,1 the new Tanaka should be a useful starter (if not an ace) for as long as his ligament lasts, even if he nibbles too much to go deep into games.”

This is demoralizing, actually, if it’s sound.

By: MSM35

MSM35 — Wed, 08 Apr 2015 21:00:33 +0000

An early day off is a sure recipe for over reaction. The pitching for the club will be ok even if Tanaka is sub-par. I worry about the bats. This is more or less the same lineup as last year.

By: Shaun P.

Shaun P. — Wed, 08 Apr 2015 17:44:19 +0000

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I felt a lot better about Tanaka’s Monday start after I read Ben’s piece. Particularly that the four seam fastball was Tanaka’s least effective pitch last year.

I don’t know how that data is calculated, but I doubt it takes into account the interrelationship between pitches. Maybe his four seamer was his “worst” pitch, but maybe it helped enable his better pitches? Ben seems to suggest there’s an interrelationship in the bit Alex quoted above, but I guess we don’t know.

So is Tanaka’s abandonment of his four seam fastball a good thing or a bad thing? I guess it’s another one for the list of Tanaka wait and sees.