[image title="chien_ming_wang" size="full" id="12962" align="center" ]
On Twitter last night, Ken Davidoff reported that Chien-Ming Wang is “as good as non-tendered” at this point, as the Yankees do not see him as a contributor next year. Although my first reaction is to be upset that the Yankees are jettisoning a player who was such an integral piece on a number of Yankee clubs, the fact is that the Yankees are as familiar with Wang’s medicals as anybody. They clearly feel that his shoulder issues make him too big a risk to sink 4-5 million dollars into.
If Wang is in fact soon to be a former Yankee, this would be a good time to relfect upon his career with the Yankees. Here are the relevant numbers:
| Year | W | L | ERA | GS | IP | ERA+ | WHIP | H/9 | HR/9 | BB/9 | SO/9 | SO/BB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 8 | 5 | 4.02 | 17 | 116.1 | 105 | 1.246 | 8.7 | 0.7 | 2.5 | 3.6 | 1.47 |
| 2006 | 19 | 6 | 3.63 | 33 | 218.0 | 124 | 1.307 | 9.6 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 3.1 | 1.46 |
| 2007 | 19 | 7 | 3.70 | 30 | 199.1 | 122 | 1.294 | 9.0 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 4.7 | 1.76 |
| 2008 | 8 | 2 | 4.07 | 15 | 95.0 | 109 | 1.316 | 8.5 | 0.4 | 3.3 | 5.1 | 1.54 |
| 2009 | 1 | 6 | 9.64 | 9 | 42.0 | 44 | 2.024 | 14.1 | 1.5 | 4.1 | 6.2 | 1.53 |
| 5 Seasons | 55 | 26 | 4.16 | 104 | 670.2 | 107 | 1.339 | 9.4 | 0.6 | 2.6 | 4.2 | 1.57 |
| 162 Game Avg. | 18 | 8 | 4.16 | 33 | 214 | 107 | 1.339 | 9.4 | 0.6 | 2.6 | 4.2 | 1.57 |
When Wang had that power sinker going, hitters could not help but roll the ball softly to an infielder and trudge back to the dugout. As Wang developed, his GB rate decreased, but it was due to his added use of the slider to increase his K-rate. He was working on becoming a more complete pitcher when a fluke baserunning injury effectively ended his Yankee career.
Wang was never really an ace in the truest sense of the term, but he was the best starter on a number of Yankee clubs and would have made an excellent #2 on a winning team. While his last postseason in NY was awful, CC Sabathia and Alex Rodriguez taught us in 2009 that failure in a small sample does not mean a player cannot succeed in the big spot. Chien-Ming Wang was a big part of the 2005-2008 Yankees, and I will be sorry to see him go.
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13 Responses to Wang Likely To Be Gone
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TIQ IQ
That sucks, I too will be sorry to see him go, a healthy Wang and all this talk about adding starters doesnt happen, who do you guys think is to blame about his rehab?, we know some athletes will not tell people if they arent right, but everyone saw the signs in ST, and they still kept sending him out, they had to know by telling him not to run that offseason, it would mess up his routine and he would overcompensate on other body parts.
I don’t like it. I know they have access to his medical reports, but they had “better information” last spring, and what was the result of that?
Thing is, I think you (and I) are letting sentiment to enter into this. If CMW had been a Ranger, and was now available for 4-5M, would you push the Yankees to get him? I doubt it. He is too much of a question mark.
Exactly! This is business! This is the same with Damon, people want to bring him back (and some even on arbitration) because they like the guy but he isn’t worth the money as a player. If we were building a good person team Johnny and Wang probably end up on it, but as is this is a baseball team and both should be gone!
At his best Wang was a 1 pitch pitcher throwing 95 MPH sinker balls, as of last year he was a 1 pitch pitcher with a 91 MPH sinker ball, the difference is huge! It is the difference in an effective 2 or 3 starter and being nothing more than a number 5 or worse. This is Wang’s 2nd shoulder surgery and he only ever threw 2 pitches to begin with and now with another surgery he will all but dump the slider. He may never get his velocity back and without it he is worthless to the Yankees and it’s not like he is that young anymore. He is 30 now and his velocity and sink will only start to naturally decline soon, the risk outweigh the reward.
Just because he’s non-tendered, doesn’t necessarily mean his Yankee career is over.
No but the reports are the Yankees have no interest in bringing him back period!
That not a very smart approach and I have my doubts that the Yanks would cut ties. To me, you can’t pay him millions, not even one million, he can’t pitch right now. You have to non-tender him. No one will sign him anytime soon. His throwing program, that just started, is 30, 60 or 90 days. From what his agent said it sounds like 90 days. After that he’ll start pitching for real. Someone might take a risk and offer him a minor league or incentive laden contract come February but in this economy I doubt it. More likely, teams will wait until he can pitch for real, they’ll scout him and make an offer. If he has no setbacks this won’t be until March. I bet the Yanks will be right there with everyone else. If Cashman likes what he hears (sees), no one will offer Wang more.
No, I’m not. I don’t believe it’s a certainty that he’ll lose 5 MPH off his sinker. I think it’s just as likely one of the other injury-risk pitchers continue to get hurt as it is that Wang doesn’t return to form. Any one of them (including CMW) would be a risk. If he does return to near where he was, he’s more valuable than any of the others because he pitches so deep into the game as often as he does.
One other thing-this is pretty much the same front office that signed Wright, Pavano, and some other real clunkers in the past several years. Their judgment in the realm of pitcher’s health flat out stinks
He already lost those 5 MPH!! Last year he was throwing 91 MPH even once he had started to heat up and pitch semi well he was only throwing 90-91 MPH sinkers that doesn’t work for him!
Those other pitchers aren’t as big a risk as Wang because they actually have more than 1 pitch and that is the difference! He went from 1 great pitch and 1 OK pitch to 1 bad pitch, he is done with the Yankees!
I bet Wang gets less money than all of those pitchers, and doesnt get 5 M on the open market. I like Wang, and I would be glad if they kept him, but I get the decision.
The only team I could see giving him 5 million is the Dodgers and even then I don’t see it… I liked Wang but you have to realize when it’s time to cut a man loose and right now those men are Damon and Wang.
Sheets, Harden, Bedard are all better “pitchers” and right now have better stuff than what we saw Wang deliver last year, the one with the least amount of pitches in that squad is Harden and he has basically become a 2 pitch pitcher but was still more effective than Wang. All Wang had going for him was extreme velocity on a sinker without that he is nothing, it’s a huge risk to sign him.
if Wang and Matsui are both gone, does this mean there will be no more Chinese and Japanese ads lining the warning track now?
No the Yankees have a huge fan base in Japan, they are the biggest baseball team in all of the Asian countries for the most part, it’s why guys like Matsui grew up a Yankee fan.
Besides we still have Igawa ;)