TAMPA — Masahiro Tanaka is unquestionably the Yankees’ ace. They gladly would accept a repeat of CC Sabathia’s 2016 season, and they hope Luis Severino can pitch well enough in spring training to grab one of two open spots in the rotation.
So, on the first day of pitchers and catchers workouts at George M. Steinbrenner Field — which is presently a construction site — the man who could decide whether the Yankees contend or flop stood in the middle of the clubhouse Wednesday morning and talked about what lies ahead for him.
“I need to have better focus when I am pitching,’’ Michael Pineda said. “I need to finish after I get two outs. When I get two outs or two strikes, I need to finish.’’
Since he was acquired from the Mariners in January 2012, much has been expected from the 6-foot-7, 260-pound right-hander. After not pitching in the big leagues in 2012 and 2013 because of an involved shoulder surgery, Pineda has teased everybody with stuff so good Sabathia said he could be a Cy Young candidate.
Working with a plus fastball in the mid-90s that cuts and lethal slider thrown at 86 mph, Pineda exhibits front-end starter stuff.
Yet, in the past three seasons, the 28-year-old is 23-27 with a 4.10 ERA in 72 starts. Though the math isn’t terrible, it does include a horrendous 2016 — when Pineda went 6-12 with a 4.82 ERA in 32 outings and gave up 184 hits (27 homers) in 175 2/3 innings.
Now, in the year before he becomes a free agent, the Yankees are counting on Pineda to be far better than he was last season.
After last season, pitching coach Larry Rothschild reinforced the need for Pineda to concentrate on every pitch.
“He always tells me, ‘You have a good fastball, a good slider and good change-up,’ ’’ Pineda said. “ ‘You need to focus, especially with two outs.’ ”
In that category, Pineda was miserable. Hitters batted .325 (80-246) with 13 homers and a .980 OPS with two outs against him.
“For me last year was bad. I would have a good game and then a bad game,’’ Pineda said
Rothschild spotted a mental flaw when Pineda looked to close out an inning.
“He tried harder to do more,’’ the pitching coach said.
With two outs and runners on base, hitters batted .294 (45-for-153) last season, and with a runner on third and two outs a robust .419 (13-for-31) against Pineda.
“It’s hard to look at the [record] with the stuff he has,’’ manager Joe Girardi said. “We continue to remind him to finish innings. Two-out runs seem harder to recover from than solo homers [early in an inning].”
Pineda, who will make $7.4 million this season, could be looking at considerably more money than that as a free agent if he were to be coming off a solid season.
“I don’t have control over the situation,” Pineda said. “Of course, I want to be a Yankee, but I don’t have control.”
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