Blue Jays at Yankees
I didn’t see a problem with Masahiro Tanaka’s stuff. In the first two innings he was throwing all four of pitches for strikes and he threw them any time in the count. Much has been made about the decrease in fastball velocity (he was sitting 90 mph compared to 92-93 this time last year), but his biggest problem was command as he left some fastballs in the middle of the plate. If he’s going to sit 90 then his command will have to improve. If you own him you have to hold onto him.
Tanaka is getting all the headlines, but Drew Hutchison was the story. In the offseason I projected 200 strikeouts because of how dominant he looked last year after he changed the grip of the slider. He was staked to a five run lead after three innings and he pitched appropriately. He threw a ton of strikes (56 of 92 pitches were strikes) and went right after hitters. The slider looked almost as good as last September. Needless to say, if he’s available in your league then go get him.
Other Notes
Both Jim Johnson and Jason Grilli had perfect outings, but Johnson was the far better pitcher. Again, it’s only one outing, but Grilli was leaving fastballs up and in the middle of the zone, which will eventually get punished by hitters. Grilli may have a relatively long leash because he was successful in his first attempt, but if I were a betting man I would say he’s not the closer at the end of April.
It looks like the Mets do not want to use Jeurys Familia in closing situations. Buddy Carlyle got the two out save because Jenrry Mejia was unavailable due to elbow soreness. My best guess is Carlyle gets the next save chance if Mejia is hurt, but you never know what the Mets are going to do. Long term you should own Bobby Parnell because he gets the job once he’s back on the Major League roster.
Mike Moustakas hit in the two hole, which is something to monitor if you’re deep mixed leagues. Moustakas had a good post season and Spring Training so maybe the Royals know something we do not. However, despite his good numbers I’m still not buying in.
