Sunday, April 19, 2009

What To Do With Wang

The Yanks have a big decision concerning Chien-Ming Wang.  In 3 starts, he's pitched a total of 6 innings with an E.R.A. of 34.50.  His next scheduled start is against the Red Sox, but you get the feeling, his teammates aren't relishing the thought.  Johnny Damon actually had the guts to call out Wang, as quoted from the New York Post:

"We have six losses on the year right now and he's got three of them," Damon said. "And in all three of those games, we've been blown out and we've had to go to our bullpen. So maybe our bullpen's not sharp the following days. So I don't know what more to say, but hopefully he can figure it out because it'd be tough to keep on going like this."

I applaud Johnny Damon for his honesty.  This team cannot continue to allow Wang to corrupt the bullpen the way he has in his first 3 starts.  Fortunately, for the Yanks, AJ Burnett has been able to provide some distance in his starts, but God help this team if he falters after Wang.  For now, the Yanks can skip Wang's next start in the rotation, with Thursday, his turn in the rotation, being an off day.  That would allow Burnett to open up the Red Sox series.  In the meantime, the Yanks do not have the luxury of banishing Wang to the minors, since he is out of options and likely would be claimed on waivers.  Hopefully, they'll send him to get some work in the bullpen and call up either Phil Hughes, who is 2-0 in the minors, or Alfredo Aceves.  

Do any of you other Yankee fans/Yankee haters have any suggestions?  Let's hear it! 
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  1. TEDApril 21, 2009 at 3:33 PM

    First of all Girardi needs to pull Wang into his office and convince him that he has arm fatigue. If that doesn’t work he may want to try and hire Tanya Harding, if she’s not boxing or making movies, to help “influence” Wang into taking some time off. Seriously though I belief loss of confidence is the biggest problem Wang is having, ala Clay Bucholz 2008. I know his ball movement is lacking and his location is up, but I think he’s lost faith in his stuff and instead of rearing back and firing the ball into Posada’s mitt he’s pushing it. Make the guy miss a few starts and have him start from scratch working on his mechanics.

    By the way I’m glad you mentioned something about the new Yankee stadium being the Coors Field of the East. I was beginning to think that the huge amount the Empire spent on the new home included some Rocky Mountain air. If this keeps up do you think some pitchers will think twice before signing with the Yanks in the future in fear of inflated ERA’s?

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