Results tagged ‘ Chien-Ming Wang ’
Wang now a free agent
In a move that should not have been all that surprising, Chien-Ming Wang is now a free agent.
It wasn’t that the Yankees didn’t love everything Wang did for them in their uniform, including winning 46 games in 2 1/2 years before that awful baserunning incident in Houston last June. But after seeing him struggle so mightily this season coming off that injury and heading toward season-ending surgery, Wang’s situation was just a little too uncertain.
“There’s no doubt that we had to make a tough decision,” said Yankees
general manager Brian Cashman. “We are still hopeful that our
relationship can continue, but those decisions are yet to be made.”
Had the Yankees tendered Wang a contract, they would have been bound by a rule that makes a maximum pay cut of 20 percent of the $5 million he earned in 2009 – a $4 million deal. The return on that investment is questionable, and so the Yankees will try to re-sign Wang to a lesser deal heavy in incentives.
Speaking this week to Wang’s agent, Alan Nero, it appears as though Wang will now engage all 30 teams. Nero didn’t rule out Wang coming back to the Yankees, a place where he truly is well-liked in the clubhouse and seems comfortable, but it sure doesn’t seem like a slam dunk.
Rumor Mill: A Jeter deal for Damon?
Scott Boras made the rounds in Chicago yesterday, giving the writers something to chew on with Johnny Damon. Whether you read it frokm Joel Sherman in the New York Post, Mark Feinsand in the Daily News or David Waldstein in the New York Times, here’s the bottom line — Boras is drawing comparisons between his client, Damon, and what the Yankees have done and will do with Derek Jeter.
Boras’ argument, according to Sherman, is that Damon and Jeter worked so well atop the lineup in 2009, they should be viewed as a tandem. He also notes that that Damon has historic durability and that past three seasons equate well for both Damon and Jeter, and so they should be paid similarly. And Boras, of course, does not want Damon to take a pay cut from his $13 million annual salary (no one pays Boras’ commission to take a pay cut).
Here’s the problem, as I see it. The Yankees are going to overpay Derek Jeter. There’s no question about it, they’re going to give him one of those sweetheart deals where they pay him a lot for the future as a thank you for being the captain and leader of past teams, because they don’t want to see him getting his 3,000th hit in another uniform.
That’s fine, we all accept it, and if there’s one guy you’re going to do that to, it’s Jeter. OK, maybe they did it a little to not see Mariano Rivera — and especially Jorge Posada — in other uniforms too.
Point is, Damon doesn’t have that same cache with the Yankees. He was a very good player, a very productive player, over those four years. But he’s no franchise talent. A one or two-year deal is probably all that the Yankees are going to bring to the table with Damon. If Boras is intent on getting more, Damon is likely to be playing elsewhere in 2010 and beyond.
– Sherman also notes the Yankees intend to either pick up Sergio Mitre’s $1.25 million option by next week’s deadline or offer him arbitration, keeping him around as rotation depth. As expected, the Yankees also plan on non-tendering Chien-Ming Wang and then considering offering him a smaller money deal to return.
– Cashman on Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain, via Feinsand: “I look at them as starters that can relieve. We haven’t had our meetings, but I would anticipate going to spring training with as much starting depth as possible.”
Cashman also told reporters that he’s not actively shopping Ian Kennedy, but teams have called with interest.
Wang to have season-ending surgery
Chien-Ming Wang will have arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder capsule on Wednesday under the care of Dr. James Andrews and will miss the remainder of the 2009 season.
The Yankees hurler had a MRI Monday in Birmingham, Ala. and met with Andrews on Tuesday. Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that the team has no time frame on how long Wang will need to recover.
“It’s a tough loss for us,” Girardi said. “I feel for him, because he’s been through a lot in the last 14 or 15 months, with the [right] foot injury and now this. Hopefully this will be the end of the surgeries for him and he will have the rest of his career to be healthy.”
7/25 – Yankees vs. A’s
It’s another perfect summer afternoon here in the Bronx as the Yankees and A’s play the third game of this four-game series. The Yankee lineup has shifted a little bit as Derek Jeter is getting a half-day as the DH (Cody Ransom at shortstop) and Jorge Posada takes off the day game after the night game.
At some point, the Yankees are going to figure out how to give Alex Rodriguez a little rest. He’s played the first nine games coming out of the All-Star Break, so figure he’ll be on the bench for the series finale. Johnny Damon is on the bench but fine after taking that throw in the rear end last night on a run-scoring fielder’s choice.
There are no updates yet on Chien-Ming Wang, though it appears likely he’ll be seeing Dr. James Andrews early next week. And since we mentioned that Jeter passed Ted Williams (2,654) on baseball’s all-time hits list yesterday, it’s worth stating that today he ties Bernie Williams (2,076) in games played on the Yankees’ all-time list.
Some of the chatter in the press dining room – appropriate for a A’s vs. Yankees game – was about Rickey Henderson and how wonderful that Hall of Fame speech is going to be. Sadly, the John Olerud story (“I used to play with a guy who wore a helmet like that”) has been debunked, which is unfortunate because it’s a great story.
But Rickey’s malapropisms are the stuff of legend anyway. Here’s a guy who caused a stir in the A’s finance department by not cashing a $1 million bonus check, instead keeping it framed in his house.
My favorite is the tale (again, may or may not be true) about a player who, late in Henderson’s career, asked why he would sit in the front of the bus. As a veteran, Henderson would have had the tenure to take a seat in the back.
“Tenure?” Henderson is said to have replied. “What are you talking about? Rickey’s got 16, 17 years.”
One of a kind.
ATHLETICS (40-55)
Kennedy 3B
Cabrera SS
Hairston LF
Garciaparra DH
Cust RF
Davis CF
Crosby 1B
Ellis 2B
Powell C
Pitching: Gio Gonzalez (1-2, 9.33)
YANKEES (59-37)
Jeter DH
Gardner CF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Swisher RF
Cano 2B
Cabrera LF
Ransom SS
Molina C
Pitching: Andy Pettitte (8-5, 4.62)
Rain in the Bronx
The tarpaulin is on the field and it doesn’t look like the A’s and Yankees are about to get started anytime soon. It definitely wasn’t a good sign that Nick Swisher and Johnny Damon were settling in for a card game when the clubhouse closed to reporters at 6 p.m. ET.
The biggest tidbit of pre-game news is that Chien-Ming Wang went for a second opinion on his right shoulder, visiting with Dr. David Altchek yesterday. Dr. Chris Ahmad was due to arrive at Yankee Stadium to discuss those findings with Brian Cashman later tonight, and Wang admitted that he is more worried now that the prospect of surgery is looming.
UPDATE 7:32 p.m.: The Yankees just made an announcement. It’s not much. “We do not know if the current conditions will allow us to commence play.” But they think there’s a chance (“So you’re tellin’ me there’s a chance!“) so we’ll keep on waiting.
UPDATE 7:58 p.m.: “While we hope to play tonight’s game and will provide updates during the course of this rain delay, presently we do not know whether the current conditions will permit us to commence play. As always, thank you for your patience.”
Wang sidelined again with tenderness
If the Yankees get anything for the remainder of the season from Chien-Ming Wang, they will have to consider it a bonus.
The right-hander suffered another setback on Monday while playing catch on the field at Yankee Stadium, experiencing tenderness in his right biceps as he tries to get started on his way off the disabled list and to a rehab assignment. Yankees manager Joe Girardi said the session was only “so-so” and that Wang would be shut down until at least Friday.
“I think anytime you’re dealing with cuff issues or shoulder tendinitis
or whatever you want to describe it as, there is concern,” Girardi said. “Whatever he
is able to do, we would love to have. But I think anytime someone is
injured and you’re not sure when the’yre exactly going to be back, you can’t count on them.”
The Yankees are calling up Sergio Mitre to serve as their fifth starter on Tuesday and Girardi said that Mitre is not on a start-to-start basis. As of right now, he is a member of their rotation every fifth day. Meanwhile, Damaso Marte is scheduled to pitch on Tuesday for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
New addition to the Yankees family
The Yankees have announced that Chien-Ming Wang’s wife, Chia-Ling Wu, gave birth to the couple’s first child, son Justin Jesse (7 lbs., 12 oz.), this morning in New York City.
Yanks will sleep on Wang’s next start
There has been no ironclad, definitive statement that Chien-Ming Wang will make his next start in the Yankees rotation after tonight’s clunker. There also hasn’t been a declaration that he won’t. Basically, it’s wait-and-see at this point.
“I’m not ready to make that decision right now,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said in his office. “We’re seven minutes after the game, so it’s something we’ll discuss. I’ll sleep on it. In five days, somebody will be out there.”
That ‘somebody’ could be Phil Hughes, of course, if the Yankees choose to go that route. But the fact that Wang would be facing a bad Nationals team on Tuesday, at home in New York, could work in his favor. Maybe they’ll give him one more chance to straighten his mechanics out.
“It’s definitely frustrating for me,” Wang said through an interpreter. “I haven’t thrown a good ballgame in a while. It’s definitely frustrating.”
If I had to guess right now, I’d say the odds are 50-50. Think the Yankees aren’t confused? Check out this honest admission from Girardi, which he dropped after most of the reporters had left the room:
“Everyone kept asking, ‘When are you going to put him in the rotation? Hasn’t he shown you enough to put him in the rotation?’” Girardi said. “Now I’ve put him in the rotation, he struggles twice, and people are saying, ‘Why’d you put him in the rotation?’ He was pitching well, so we thought he was ready to go.”
What’s the problem, anyway? Dave Eiland said that Wang’s arm slot is all over the place and that he’s not able to take his bullpens out to the mound. Eiland seems a little perplexed by this, and even though he admits Wang isn’t back to where he was pre-injury in 2008, he says he’s convinced Wang is healthy enough to pitch in the big leagues. But he can’t command his pitches — he missed a lot low in the zone tonight — and that’s killing him.
“He’s got to take it out there with him,” Eiland said. “I can’t stand there behind the mound with him during the game.”
In this series, A.J. Burnett and Wang have combined to allow nine runs (seven earned) on 11 hits and eight walks in 5 1/3 innings (11.81 ERA).
Yankees bring back Wang early
Chien-Ming Wang has made a U-turn and will be in New York tonight as a long reliever for the Yankees, the New York Daily News is reporting.
Wang had been scheduled to start tonight for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre at Pawtucket, but last night’s injury to Joba Chamberlain appears to have changed those plans.
Joe Girardi said last night that he is hopeful Chamberlain will be able to make his scheduled start on Tuesday at Texas, but the Yankees’ bullpen was a little thin even before Adam Jones lined a bullet off Chamberlain’s right knee in the first inning.
Having Wang around as insurance for long relief and a possible start Tuesday seems to make sense, especially after he threw 13 scoreless innings at Triple-A and looked sharp in the bullpen at Yankee Stadium.
A lot of question marks in the Bronx
The Yankees lineup card shows 26 players with one hour to go before game time. Brian Bruney is back, but who’s out? It’s anyone’s guess right now. There will be something to report — you’d hope — by first pitch.
But one thing you can rule out — Joe Girardi said the Yankees aren’t ready to go without two infielders to back up Alex Rodriguez just yet. Ramiro Pena and Angel Berroa will apparently stay. Joe Girardi said that Bruney could be pitching in the eighth inning as soon as tonight.
“I’m not sure exactly how sharp he’ll be his first outing out, but it’s good to have him back,” Girardi said. “We need him back and we need him to throw like he’s been throwing in the eighth inning for us.”
Chien-Ming Wang threw 50 pitches in the bullpen and says he is ready to pitch in the big leagues, and that he has the ability to keep his sinker down in the zone. He said he feels “almost the same” as last year. Will the Yankees agree? Again, stay tuned.
Bryan Hoch
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