The deadline to tender contracts to arbitration eligible is tomorrow, as any eligible player not offered a contract immediately becomes a free agent. Matt at Fack Youk took a look at the 4 Yankee candidates (Wang, Gaudin, Mitre, and Cabrera), and concluded that Chien MIng Wang would be the only one to go. He says:
Wang is universally regarded as a goner. The Yankees do not want to offer him arbitration and play him more than the $5M he made in 2009 after he’s missed nearly the entirety of the past two seasons. Wang started a throwing program last week, and his agent claims he won’t be far behind other pitchers in spring training, stating he’ll be ready to pitch by May 1st. Still, the Yankees don’t figure it wise to commit the money to Wang given his injury history – including three shoulder injuries now – his poor performance last year and the uncertainty that surrounds him moving forward. I’ll be sad to see him go. He was a very good pitcher for the Yankees for three plus years before that freak injury in Houston nearly two years ago. The Yankees likely botched his rehab and then didn’t really put him in a position to succeed or improve upon his return.There’s a chance Wang re-signs with the Yankees for less money, but I just don’t see it happening. He’ll likely receive a better offer from someone else; Joe Torre and the Dodgers have expressed interest.
Although I wrote about Wang leaving last week, I have been having second thoughts. If Ben Sheets is truly going to hold out for a deal that exceeds 10 million dollars, Wang might be the best fit for the 2010 Yankees. They likely plan on having Chamberlain and Hughes start, so they may just need another starter who can fill in and soak up some extra innings, rather than a big money acquisition that will slot into the 2 or 3 spot in the rotation. If the Yankees do not believe that he can provide quality innings or feel that his health will continue to be an issue, letting him go will be the right move. But if they have any faith in Wang’s ability to give them, say, 80-100 league average innings, it would be prudent to tender him a contract and focus their resources elsewhere.
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16 Responses to The Non-Tender Candidates
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TIQ IQ
I never viewed Wang as a goner, just a guy who wasn’t getting arbitration or a big contract.In the end, I think both the Yankees and Wang make sense for each other unless somone wants to overpay him and hope he’s healthy and back 100%.
With teams unwilling to give health risk pitchers like Bedard and Sheets big dollars (I think Harden is a bit different he’s ready and has more upside than Wang)I don’t see anybody jumping to give Wang huge bucks.
Unless he has hard feelings with the Yankees (which IMO he should have for ruining him last year) I would expect Wang to sign a cheap incentive laden contract with the Yankees, possibly with an option for bigger money in the future.
Wang has a history of significant arm injuries, with the most recent resulting in shoulder surgery. Although he might start pitching when his agent says, it will take a good deal longer for his command and effectiveness to return. And that is the optimistic scenario. There is a very real chance he will never again be the same pitcher he was before 2008 or anything close to it.
Ben Sheets at his best was a comparable pitcher to Wang in his prime. The real difference here is that Sheets is much further into his recovery than Wang. At one point Sheets looked ready to return last summer, then opted to wait.
It seems likely that for Sheets a team will need to negotiate a deal with significant incentives for innings pitched, avoiding the DL, etc. I’ll hazard $8 million base pay, up to $4 million in incentives. If the Yankees conclude they need starting pitching help in 2010, they are much more likely to get it from Sheets at that price than from Wang at any price. (And as an aside, I cringe at the thought of Jason Marquis as an alternative.)
Two points.
1- Why the Yankees would continue to throw $ 1 million+/year on Mitre is beyond me. He provides neither innings nor quality in the innings he does pitch.. Eyeball observation confirmed by metric analysis confirm that he is not a major league pitcher. Consider these statistics: Lifetime ERA+ 78, Best year ERA+ 93, Lifetime H/9 innings 11.0, Lifetime WHIP 1.557. Gaudin fills essentially the same role as long man in the bullpen and swing starter. I realize a salary of between the between 1 and $ 2 million isn’t much in the overall scheme of things but it is still $ thrown away.
2- I think Duchsherer represents the best bet of the “high risk” group if the Yankees want to bring in an additional starter. He is farther along physically than Sheets or Wang and most likely will cost considerably less. Also, proximity to his son should be helpful with some of the problems he encountered last year emotionally.
Mitre was very good in his last half season prior to getting hurt, and generally pitchers take 18 months to get back to full strength. They think he is a decent gamble.
I can see it going both ways. For $1M or a little more, the Yanks keep a fairly young arm in Mitre. His only responsibility would be to provide innings and they wouldn’t even have to be particularly good innings, just a notch or two below league-average.
On the other hand, the Yanks aren’t the Royals or Marlins and can afford to spend a little more to get a little more. Why carry a guy whose lifetime ERA+ is 78 and whose only exposure to the AL last year resulted in the worst season of his entirely below average (to put it nicely) career?
Oh, I see both ways. I just think the Yankees have no issues with taking a gamble on a guy they think has some talent who they can stash in AAA if need be.
I don’t have a problem with it either. $1M for a guy that can throw 4 so-so innings in a pinch is a luxury the Yanks can afford and they might as well.
But, as I wrote at the bottom of this thread, why give $1M to Mitre when he objectively blows but get frugal over $5M for a guy that was the team ace as recently as two seasons ago?
Wang was never an “Ace” he was simply the best pitcher on a mediocre pitching team with no real starting talent anymore for 2 years, Wang had a 4.0, 3.6, 3.7 and 4.0 ERA’s in his time with the Yankees which shows there was never much room for inconsistency and there was never much room for a slip in the velocity because he was already giving up runs, once he lost the fastball he was done anyway and the Yankees knew this from the beginning.
The only reason people considered Wang and ace anyway was because he won 19 games back to back years and that had a lot to do with how good the offense was at that time not necessarily because he was some god pitcher.
Wang was good for a short time and now that ride is over, this was always the risk and it finally happened, I’m just glad he wasn’t inked long term when the injury happened.
Is Milwuakee still to receive Type A free agent compensation from the team that signs Ben Sheets? If so I would go for a guy like Eric Bedard who was not offered arbitration by Seattle, and therefor not due compensation.
No Sheets didn’t pitch last year so he isn’t a type A or B free agent anymore!
Since Sheets isn’t due compensation either Sheets is much better option than Bedard.
Mitre has pictures of Girardi in a compromising position with Ellin Woods.
Frankly, I’ve never understood why the Yanks would take a hard line with Wang under the preposterous pretense of fiscal responsibility. Assuming a $5M contract for Wang, that would represent approximately 2% of the Yankees’ overall 2010 payroll. Getting stingy over the marginal cost of your 6th, 7th or even 8th starting pitcher when you’re the Yankees smacks of misplaced priorities. Why the largesse for doomed-from-the-start guys like Pavano but tight purse-strings for a guy that has proven his value to the team?
The Yanks should do the smart thing and try to work out a two-year deal with Wang. Offer him $7.5M or $8M and pay for his 2010 rehab with an eye towards catching lightning in a bottle later this season and certainly in 2011. Although I’m sure Cashman and his staff have considered this, I would imagine this would be the best solution. There’s no reason to dump Wang prematurely, especially if the team concedes (privately; internally) that they mishandled his injury and subsequent recovery.
I think that they think he is toast. If they had any faith in him helping in 2010, they would just keep him and forget about bringing in another injury risk like Sheets.
That’s not the impression I’m getting. They seem to be going about it as if the price tag is the issue and not the player.
It would annoy the $h*t out of me if the Yanks let Wang walk and watch him bounce back over what amounted to peanuts for a team like the Yanks.
If Wang is throwing 91 MPH he isn’t that much better than Mitre and he is worse than Harden, Bedard and Sheets on the open market….
I really don’t know why people expect this huge comeback from Wang where he will suddenly be throwing 95 MPH again and the slider will no longer hurt his arm and he develops his change up and he pitches for 12 more years… This is his 2nd shoulder surgery, he already abandons his slider when he gets hurt and last year when he had finally got back into some rhythm and he was doing a little better he was still throwing 91 so there was never an indication his velocity was going to go back up.
The Yankees know his medical records the best and they obviously were worried about this from the beginning and it finally happened, lets just let him go and move on.
If Wang is anything but what we saw last year I would be surprised. He’s not even worth $5 mill.