Did Yanks See This Coming With Wang?
Posted by Steve L. on April 24th, 2009 · Comments (9)
Just about this time last year, Chien-Ming Wang wanted to sign a long-term contract with the Yankees – as Robinson Cano did – but the Yankees weren’t interested. And, at the same time, stories started coming up about Wang having a torn rotator cuff that was never repaired.
Thinking about this now, it makes me wonder: Did the Yankees see this coming with Wang – with “this” being him losing his velocity/stuff on the mound?
If true, do the Yankees deserve a gold star for not signing him long term last year? Or, should they get a demerit for counting on him to be a big part of their rotation this year?
If true, do the Yankees deserve a gold star for not signing him long term last year? Or, should they get a demerit for counting on him to be a big part of their rotation this year?
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I think neither a gold star or demerit are in order. Pitchers, for the most part, are completely unpredictable. They have great years, they have down years, they get hurt. For every consistent star like Pedro there’s a guy who just loses his stuff and his talent, like Mark Wholers, and there’s a guy who blows out his arm and is never the same, like Bartolo Colon.
These happen with pitchers all the time which is why we rarely see big pitching contracts, and which is what makes this CC contract extremely risky. So long story short, Yanks played Wang like they should have. Go to arb if they need to but don’t sign him long term.
omg there IS a post praising cashman, sure in an offhanded way…today IS a bizarre day lol
Thinking about this now, it makes me wonder: Did the Yankees see this coming with Wang – with “this” being him losing his velocity/stuff on the mound?
If true, do the Yankees deserve a gold star for not signing him long term last year? Or, should they get a demerit for counting on him to be a big part of their rotation this year?
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I don’t believe the Yanks or anyone else could foresee Wang’s poor start. He didn’t show a decrease in velocity last year so there would have been no reason to predict it for this year. The Yanks simply didn’t extend him because they had no reason to. The Giants haven’t extended Tim Lincecum and he’s a Cy Young winner. Teams are generally a bit more skeptical of pitchers than hitters and for good reason.
Having said that, the Yanks deserve neither credit for not extending Wang nor blame for counting on him as their #2 starter this year. Counting on him in 2009 was a perfectly reasonable thing to do, just as not extending him was a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Don’t forget, the Yanks didn’t sign Jeter either, instead opting to go year to year with him until killed them in arbitration in 2000.
They deserve nothing because if they figured this was going to happen last yr they should have traded him and kennedy for Santana.
As a card-carrying member of the Loyal Order of Cashman Kool-Aid Brigade that Cashman deserves full credit for not signing Wang long-term (unless he comes back and pitches well the rest of the season, then it’s someone else’s fault), but clearly not his fault for relying on Wang to be the #2 starter (unless he comes back and pitches well the rest of the season, in which case, Cashman is a genius)
Steve -
Honest question, if the Yankees had signed Wang long-term and he’d gone all kablooey as he may be doing right now, what would you have bludgeoned Cashman about the head and shoulders with it for making a huge mistake he should have seen coming?
sean mcnally wrote:
Yes – if we found out that the rotator issue was true and the Yanks signed him anyway.
Steve Lombardi wrote:
Agreed,good call on that one.Michael Kay keeps on parroting the line about the Yankees not liking Wang long term BUT did they think about Wang blowing up like this when he came back? Even a member of the Brainless Ca$hman Exile Out of Yankee Empire Committee such as myself can’t blame the GM for this mishap. Wang is a sensitive kid to boot, so his crestfallen status has effected him somewhat. The Yankees already spent less than half a billion dollars on 2 pitchers and a position player, what was Cash Man going to do spend even more for a Lowe? Wang had been pretty good before BUT who can blame the usually clueless Cash Man and Co this time?
[...] on April 24th, about Wang, his shoulder, and the Yankees, I wrote: Just about this time last year, Chien-Ming Wang wanted to sign a long-term contract with the [...]