Last season, the righty pitched in 199.2 innings, the most by a Yankee since Hiroki Kuroda in 2014, and finished with the third-best ERA (3.07) among qualified American League starters behind Aaron Sanchez of the Toronto Blue Jays (3.00) and Justin Verlander (3.04) of the Detroit Tigers.
According to FanGraphs, Tanaka also owned the ninth-highest win probability added among starters in major league baseball, assuredly securing his spot as a Top-10 starter in the sport.
However, instead of talking about what could be an incredible upcoming campaign for the 28-year old, when Brian Cashman announced that he hasn’t spoken to his ace about a contract extension, it sparked a conversation concerning a potential opt-out.