Meet a Prospect: Chad Green

Chad Green was the second prospect that the Detroit Tigers sent to the New York Yankees in the Justin Wilson trade before the 2016 regular season but he was the first to reach the Major Leagues and the first to reach the Yankees starting rotation.... and boy did he not disappoint. The other prospect, Luis Cessa, we will introduce you to again later this month. This is Meet a Prospect: The Chad Green Edition.


Chad Green is 24 years old, will be 25 years old on May 24, and has a great right-handed pitcher’s frame standing at 6’3” and 210 lbs. Green entered the 2015 season ranked as the Detroit Tigers 12th best prospect, although Baseball Prospectus gave him a C+ grade on their rankings. Green was an 11th round pick in the 2013 MLB First Year Players Draft out of Louisville.


Green has long arms, long legs and has the build to be a durable power pitcher for quite some time. He throws from a ¾ arm slot across his body and has above-average arm speed. Green can touch 94 MPH with his fastball but sits comfortably at 92-93 MPH. BP gave Green a 55 rating out of 80 with a future of 60 on his fastball, also known as nothing to write home about.


Green sports a low 90’s fastball but his biggest downfall may be the effectiveness of his secondary pitches. Some of this may be because it is easy to detect and pick up the ball out of his hand due to a long arm extension and straight up and down delivery. Green is said to have below average command on his fastball and secondary pitches and projects to be an organizational prospect in my opinion.


Green's 2016 season ended prematurely when an elbow injury ended his season after posting a 2-4 record with a 4.73 ERA. Green sprained, he did not tear, his flexor tendon and his ulnar collateral ligament and should be ready to pitch in 2017. If he is, and all signs point to the fact that he is, he could slide right back into his starting rotation spot for the Yankees this season.

Brace Yourselves: The "Masahiro Tanaka Should Have Underwent Tommy John Surgery For No Good Reason" Fans Are Coming...

When news broke that Masahiro Tanaka had a successful, and very routine, elbow surgery this week my mind immediately went to not whether Tanaka would be okay or whether or not he would be ready for Spring Training 2016. No. My mind immediately went to all the garbage, trash and half-truths that I was going to have scattered all over my timeline on Twitter (cheap plug, @GreedyStripes) not only this winter but during the 2016 season as well. Brace yourselves Yankees fans, the group that thinks Tanaka should go ahead and get an unnecessary and potentially career threatening surgery just to make them stop criticizing every pitch he throws and to make them sleep better at night are coming and they are coming in full force.

Many fans will ignore the fact that the Yankees organization stated that the bone spur that Tanaka had removed and cleaned up from his elbow stemmed back from his time pitching in Japan. The bone spur had nothing to do with his partially torn ligament in his elbow that five Tommy John specialist doctors recommended to rest and rehab. The spur is a routine surgery much like Carlos Beltran had before the 2015 season and requires six weeks of rest and rehab before beginning a throwing program. Tanaka will be ready for 2016 and will be fine in 2016, hell he may even be better in 2016. We all saw how much a bone spur affected Beltran at the plate in 2014 imagine what it could do to a pitcher throwing 100+ pitches every fifth or sixth day.

Isn’t October, 23 2015 a little early to be saying that the 2016 season is already over?

I just want to throw this out there, it’s not completely unprecedented for a pitcher to rest and rehab a tear in his UCL that is less than 10%. Ervin Santana did the same thing and never had the surgery to this day while Adam Wainwright pitched for years, longer than Tanaka’s current contract with the New York Yankees, before having the surgery. Another thing is you don’t see an increase in velocity, which Tanaka did in 2015, and you don’t increase your use of breaking stuff and splitters, which Tanaka also did in 2015, if your elbow is a concern or bothering you. Tanaka does not need a surgery that could end his career, and yes even today it is ending the careers of many even with such a high success rate, until and/or unless it is absolutely 100% necessary. The bone spur didn’t cause the tear in the UCL, the surgery to repair the bone spur is not due to the tear in the UCL and it has no bearing whatsoever on the tear (that may not even be there anymore for all we know) in the UCL.

Yankees fans, chill. As much as you don’t want to admit it the Yankees know what they are doing. 

The Curious Case of Masahiro Tanaka

If you are already tired of hearing about Masahiro Tanaka’s elbow this season after just one start raise your hand. I regret to inform you that if you are reading this you will have to hear about his ulnar collateral ligament at least one more time because that’s the topic at hand for this blog post. Another raise your hand type group activity, raise your hand if you’re confused on what the hell is going on with Tanaka this season? I mean is he throwing more two seam fastballs and adjusting his mechanics to save some wear and tear on his elbow? Is he doing it to give the hitters a different look and keep them off balance this season? Is it a little of both? If it is then just say so.

We’ve heard that we, the fans, should expect a dip in velocity from Tanaka this season as he throws more two seam fastballs and less four seam fastballs. This makes sense on paper because his four seamer was probably hit the hardest of any of his pitches in 2014, pre and post-surgery, so giving opposing teams a new look can never hurt. Despite what ESPN said (and said again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again and again) Tanaka did not throw less fastballs on Opening Day and his velocity was pretty consistent with his 2014 numbers but the Yankees are still defending the treatment of their 25 year old ace.

Over the winter we heard that Tanaka altered his mechanics and repertoire a bit to accommodate his right UCL and now Joe Girardi is telling the media that the change is simply strategic and not health related at all. I can understand wanting to change your approach for the better and I whole heartedly understand that it will probably take a few starts, real starts not spring training starts, to adjust to new mechanics, new pitches and a new approach but just shoot me straight. Is it to protect the elbow or is it to improve on his 2014 campaign?

Does the Yankees brass even know anymore? This is less the curious case of Masahiro Tanaka and more so the confusing case of Masahiro Tanaka. I’m lost and now I don’t know what to expect. The team is already pulling the “lost in translation” card and pulling the language barrier excuses? It’s April 10^th. Just admit it, Tanaka does not trust his stuff and until, and unless, he does the Yankees are going to suffer for it. I’ve said this many times, don’t pee on me and tell me it’s raining. I can deal with pee, and rain, as long as I know what I’m walking into and as long as I know to keep my mouth closed.

So which is it Girardi? Do you even know?’