Tanaka-Themed Tuesday Night Open Thread

Next Monday at 7pm ET, the YES Network will air Masahiro Tanaka’s June 9th start against the Yomiuri Giants in its entirety. John Flaherty, Ken Singleton, and Al Lieter reviewed the game (seven shutout innings) and provided their thoughts, which you can read right here. The video above is the pitch-by-pitch of that June 9th start, but Monday’s broadcast will be our first chance to see him pitch an actual game, not just some cut-up highlight video.

In other Tanaka news, just-released PECOTA (subs. req’d) projects him as a 180-inning, 3.45 ERA pitcher in 2014. The projected peripherals are very good (8.2 K/9, 2.3 BB/9, 45% grounders) and the top comps are Cole Hamels, Matt Cain, and Mat Latos. I’ll take it. Projections don’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things, but I’d rather see a good projection than a bad one, that’s for sure. Steven Marcus says the Yankees will try to have a press conference for Tanaka in New York before Spring Training starts next Friday, but that is still up in the air. He will definitely have one in Tampa if they can’t do one in the Bronx.

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Here is your open thread for the night. The Rangers and Islanders are the only local teams in action, so talk about those games, Tanaka, or anything else right here. Enjoy.