Wang finishes off rehab in Tampa
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Oct 24, 2008 
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
Here’s a little positive Yankees news for a change.
According to Brian Cashman, Chien-Ming Wang is scheduled for his final bullpen session in Tampa today. His right foot has been feeling good and he’s throwing normally off the mound.
Once he gets checked out by a doctor in New York, he will be free to return to Taiwan. He has been in Tampa all month rehabbing.
Wang plans to spend a two months in Taiwan visiting with his family then will travel to Arizona in January to work out and start throwing with his trainers there.
Many people around the Yankee believe the turning point of the season was when Wang was injured in June. Losing their best starter was a hurdle that could not be overcome.
Pete, any idea if the Yankees let him pitch in the world baseball classic in the spring? I would guess no. I would probably decide no, if I was in a position to make that decision…
Great news
Thanks for the update, Pete.
Great news. Can’t wait to see Wang pitching again.
Remember when the injury first happened and it was supposed to be a 6 week thing?
I hope Wang can enjoy his time at home. I know he can’t go anywhere.
Thanks for the Wang update. He was definitely missed this past season
Pete,
When Wang got injured Joba stepped into his role. When Joba’s got injured it was too much to overcome.
No excuses though. They just weren’t good enough on the whole to get there this year. In previous years they would have bludgeoned their way to the playoffs.
Wang and Joba were in the rotation at the same time. Joba started in that series Vs Houston.
Joba was turned into a starter because Phil and Ian were hurt and or putrid.
Losing wang was too much too overcome. But let’s remember, not hitting with risp led to the team’s 08 demise.
with all due respect paulie, pitching is the only reason the Yankees lost. When you have Ponson and Rasner as 2/5 of your rotation you are in trouble.
Tom,
What I said was that Joba’s stepped into his role meaning best starter on the team if you were confused. They may have been in the rotation together for 1 or 2 total starts and for one of Joba’s starts he wasn’t even able to go 5 innings due to pitch limits.
I remember at the time most people thinking how good it was that Chamberlain was stretched out when he was.
how many games did ponson/rasner start together?
replace Wang and Joba and the starts they missed into Ponson and Rasner’s slot… we’d won 89 games before that, how many could we have won had Wang and Joba not gotten injured?
And – if I remember correctly – Ponson and Rasner made 35 Starts between them, which = 22% of all the Yankees Games last year.
The Yankees haven’t hdnt a solid five man rotation sind 03 and they made the playoffs each year due to their tremendous lineup.
The combination of a poor rotation and weak lineup this year was too much.
Wang and Joba missed 30 starts between them. That’s the only stat that’s relevant. We could’ve squeezed out 6 wins there.
But yeah, the hitters had chances to win even more games than the 89 they got with out Wang for half a season.
with all due respect paulie, pitching is the only reason the Yankees lost.
Hold up now. Yes losing Wang hurt and the pitching rotation was…um interesting, but did you watch the team this year? There were times when they could not get a RISP home if their lives depended on it. The offense was flat out offensive and played a key role in why the Yankees had the type of season they did.
what a great news…
I think Wang and Joba will be the most improtant role to help Yankees to make playoffs next year, I’m looking forward to see 40+ win from them as well..:)
Best pitcher? If I remember correctly, some guy named Mussina won 20 games with a 3.37 ERA.
Anyway, my point is the Wang blow is overstated since you have to expect injuries. We had a lack of depth. And you know what, Ponson and Rasner did actually hold their own for a little while. But they had to go out there maybe 5 or 6 times too many each because the team was constructed without any insurance policies. Dan Giese doesn’t count. Tampa Bay, Boston and the Dodgers all had worse seasons from an injury standpoint yet they were able to overcome them. So still blaming injuries seems silly to me.
Oh, Lord.
Olney just compared David Price to Tiger Woods.
:barf:
Give me a break. How many innings has the kid thrown? I know he is supposed to be good, but please.
“Olney just compared David Price to Tiger Woods.”
Other than both having 5 letters in all of their names, not sure what there is to compare between a proven veteran and a promising rookie.
We will soon find out if the best third base coach in baseball returns to the Yankees. We should know in about a week or so. If Bowa does return, don’t be surprised if he brings Manny with him, so to all you Anti-Mannys’ out there, be careful what you wish for!
Olney just compared David Price to Tiger Woods.
Oh no he di int! Chill Olney
“Oh, Lord.
Olney just compared David Price to Tiger Woods.”
why? did Price pump his fist last night?
Rasner = 20 starts / 5 wins
Ponson = 15 starts / 4 wins
Hughes = 8 starts / 0 wins
Kennedy= 9 starts / 0 wins
Joba = 12 starts / 4 wins
Pavano = 7 starts / 4 wins
Aceves = 4 starts / 1 wins
Geise = 3 starts / 0 wins
Total = 78 starts / 18 wins
Yikes!
Mussina= 34 starts / 20 wins
Pettite= 33 starts / 14 wins
Wang = 15 starts / 8 wins
Total = 82 starts / 42 wins
If we consider Pettite/Mussina as their #1 & 2, they got 24 wins from their #3,4 & 5 starters
So I guess it´s easy to see why starting pitching is priority # 1.
A healthy Wang could easily be construed to equate to 6 additional wins. If 1 of those wins is against the Sox, Playoffs!
My guess, not having heard first-hand, is that Olney was making the point that David Price could be an inspiration to African American youths. And given the current situation where the number of African American players is dwindling, that would be a good thing. However, it’s not like David Price is breaking a color barrier or anything.
Great news about CMW. I hope his winter is uneventful!
And I would add, regarding the Yankees’ offensive woes this past season, that not only did they have trouble getting HITS with RISP, they also had trouble making productive outs. How many times with less than two out did we see strikeouts, pop-ups and GIDPs? Far, far, far too many times!
And I would add, regarding the Yankees’ offensive woes this past season, that not only did they have trouble getting HITS with RISP, they also had trouble making productive outs. How many times with less than two out did we see strikeouts, pop-ups and GIDPs? Far, far, far too many times!
Yup Yup! Those were not good times
Yup Yup! Those were not good times¨
Sure they were! If you´re a sadist!
Wang’s foot injury was a hurdle the couldn’t over come..
How did that effect the offense? Hmm.
“Many people around the Yankee believe the turning point of the season was when Wang was injured in June. Losing their best starter was a hurdle that could not be overcome.”
Yep. The sox got almost nothing out of beckett, their number 2 never pitched a ball, their number 4 is older than dirt, and their number 5 was sent to the minors.
But the yankees, with the highest payroll, simply couldn’t cope. Story of the season right there.
I wonder how many times last year the Yanks scored a key run via a squeeze bunt, as the Rays did last night. I’d guess the figure at close to zero. I wish that every player on the team, from ARod on down, would learn to bunt and practice bunting.
Get rid of interleafue play or tell Yankee pitchers to only bunt, never swing (remember when Pettitte was with the Atsros and hurt his elbow on a check swing, and what are the chances a pitcher will get a hit anyay) and if somehow on the bases be extra careful.
Bronx Jeers – While your post is illuminating, lets remember something. THIS year, our crappy pitching had a better ERA then last year. However, our offense scored TWO HUNDRED less runs.
If you consider:
AJax may be the ONLY strong offensive player we bring up in the next 2 years.
1) Wang and Joba will hopefully have full seasons in 2009.
2) Phil can’t be worse and SHOULD contribute some Wins.
3) We are losing Giambi’s bat.
4) We are probably losing Abreu’s bat.
5) Jeter’s best offensive years are probably behind him.
5) Posada’s best offensive years are probably behind him.
6) Sanchez, Horne, Melacon, Brackman, Coke, maybe IPK and a bunch of other pitching talent is coming up over the next 2-3 years. I’m not saying we got Aces or even #2′s/#3′s here, but we should have some MLB level talent and trade chips.
7) If we continue to finish in the top 20% of MLB, future draft picks will continue to be pitching heavy.
While the platitude that ‘pitching wins’ is generally true, the Yankees CURRENT/specific situation crys the need for more offense/defense, over pitching. The A’s, Twins and other teams that have led the league in Pitching have NOT PS winners. You need strong offense and average to above defense also. Look at the 1996-2000 Yankees and the current Sox, and even the Rays, and you see well balanced teams with strength in all 3 categories.
A top 4 of CC/Wang/Joba/Hughes or Wang/Joba/AJ-Lowe/Hughes is not the best in the business, but it is very, very solid. But 700 runs scored won’t be enough for even an excellent staff.
Aces (see: Beckett, Josh) get injured for the PS. Aces (see: Sabathia, CC and MANY others) can have a few bad games during the PS. But you have 14 offensive/defensive players. These guys have to get it done.
Beckett couldn’t quite get it done this year. Is this why the Sox lost, or was it Manny/Ortiz/Lowell that cost them the PS?
I know an excellent way for a blown like wang being being injured to not have that much of an impact on the team. Dont rely on two guys who have never pitched a full season in their lives to be starters for the season. I dunno what the yanks were thinking going into the season with the starting rotation they had and expecting to be a favorite for the playoffs. You could just look at the rotation in spring training and realize that this team was going to have to really fight for a spot. And injuries happen every single yr – IE they should be expected to happen every single yr. Cash had absolutely no backup plan for the starting pitching constantly saying that he was going to rely on in house options to fill the gaps – I guess ponson and rasner were his brilliant ideas of in house options. iT WASNT wangs injury that led to the yankees demise – it was lack of depth of starters and horrible hitting in the clutch combined with substandard defense due to age. And without signing or trading for two legit starters in the off season – guess what, we will have the exact same problems next yr when some starter goes down for the count. And wasnt wang supposed to be back for the playoffs if there was a playoffs? Im really glad we didnt have to play in the playoffs this yr cuz it would have been a three and out shalacking and another horribly embarrassing moment to close the doors in the house that ruth built.
There’s no question starting pitching should be the # 1 off season priority, but there’s also no arguing that the Yankees awful performance with RISP cannot be repeated.
Just for the record, with all the stuff A-Rod took, and he deserved some of it, his .271 was not the worst by a long shot. He also led the Yankees in HR and tied in RBI with RISP.
The bottom of the barrell in that category would be Molina (9-61 .148), Melky (21-101 .208), Giambi (32-150 .215) and Betemit (12-55 .218)
One of the reasons I frequently mention the need to improve the bench if how poorly many primarily bench guys produced in this category: Pudge (1-13 .077), Gonzales (2-19 .105), Duncan (3-21 .143), Ensbrg (4-25 .160) and Ransom (2-11 .182).
I was at the game where Wang got hurt. It was on Father’s Day and I remember cursing interleague play as Wang hobbled around the bases on what was otherwise a great 13-0 win for the Yanks. Everything seemed to be coming together and then that happened. Ugh.