Twitter Poll: Did The Yankees “Exaggerate” Masahiro Tanaka’s Hamstring Injury?

@greedystripes Is Henry Rolandgartner avalibel

— robert zielinski (@edj8844) September 22, 2015

The New York Yankees watched as Ivan Nova pitched in a game that the team absolutely needed against the Toronto Blue Jays. New York had originally penciled in Masahiro Tanaka to start the series finale and the season finale between these two teams but a hamstring injury that Tanaka suffered while bunting against the New York Mets kept the Japanese right-hander from making the start. In the hours after the announcement the sky was once again falling around New York with the beat writers and fans either showing their frustrations or defending the decision with Tanaka’s elbow and his best interest in mind. The Yankees quickly did an about-face just a few days later when they had Tanaka do his regular between-start workouts and announced that the team may not wait a full turn after Tanaka’s originally Wednesday start to insert him back into the rotation. Was this injury simply exaggerated so the team could justify planning for a potential, and likely, Wild Card one-game playoff round without hearing the backlash from the fans and the media by intentionally skipping the Yankees ace against the team they are chasing in the American League East Division race?

This sounds like the making of a Twitter Poll to me…. Go!

@GreedyStripes With the tendency of Yanks players to pick up injuries all the time, no.

— Have Another Donut (@HavAnotherDonut) September 22, 2015

@GreedyStripes Nope - I don't think anyone in the Front Office is smart enough

— Bones (@YankeesBones) September 22, 2015

@GreedyStripes Absolutely not. The division race was and still is in tact. Yes the odds are low, but "You Can't Predict Baseball"

— Mike Baumann (@MikeyBumpers) September 22, 2015

@GreedyStripes I would guess overreacted to his injury. Don't think exaggerated intentionally

— Rach (@RachelG48NYY) September 22, 2015

@GreedyStripes @RealClearSports don't they have to get to the playoffs first?

— Edwin E Sierra (@EdSier) September 22, 2015

If it looks like a fish and it smells like a fish then it’s probably a fish. I can understand the decision to essentially give up on the AL East Division and to plan for the Wild Card round. I can understand it and I wholeheartedly agree with it, although I understand where some would not, but I don’t appreciate being played for a fool. Honestly I don’t think we as fans will ever know the 100% truth but the fact that Tanaka pitched five innings of dominant baseball after suffering the hamstring injury and after doing his normal routine in between starts despite the fact that the Yankees coddle their pitchers, especially Tanaka, just seems awfully convenient to me. When did baseball become so political? Shoot me straight and I’ll vote for you, politician or not.

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