The Sporting Brews looks at Chien-Ming Wang and innings pitched, and decides the Yankees did not do a great job bringing him along:
So have the Yankees done a poor job in managing Wang this season? Looking at his peers, it would appear so. It is possible that his workload has been the result of consequence (i.e. the absence of $40 million dollar man Carl Pavano), leaving the Yankees with little beyond the option of pitching him normally and hoping there isn’t any negative result.
I’d say it’s also a result of Wang’s own success. If he’s pitching well, the Yankees leave him in the game since they need to give the bullpen rest every so often. I’d also argue that some of his problem lately might be luck catching up with him. All those balls in play are going to result in hits sooner or later.
Update: On a related note…
It’s more the failure of Randy Johnson & Jaret Wright, neither of whom seems capable of going long in a game, thus taxing the bullpen, so CMW has to always go deep in a game.
Yeah, I’d say it’s necessity — the rotation’s been inconsistent, and the bullpen has been just as bad. Wang and Mussina have been the only steady arms in the Yankee rotation.
Also, I don’t have the figures, but since Wang is a low-strikeout, groundball pitcher, it stands to reason that his pitch counts are relatively low. I’d guess that a lot of Wang’s success has been sheer luck; very few pitchers last long with a strikeout rate below 3K/9.
p.s. Maybe Wright could go deeper into games if he wasn’t weighed down by that huge chaw in his cheeks. Yuck!
Wang’s last two starts:
5IP, 4ER, 7H, 1HR, 1K, 2BB, 95 pitches vs. White Sox
5.1IP, 5ER, 13H, 1HR, 3K, 2BB, 93 pitches vs. Angels
Hmm…
“p.s. Maybe Wright could go deeper into games if he wasn’t weighed down by that huge chaw in his cheeks. Yuck!”
youre right that is disgusting. i dont mind ballplayers dipping (besides the whole bad example for the kids thing) but i dont understand why that guy puts a whole tin in his mouth…
Off the top of my head, for the most part Wang has not went over 100 pitches in many starts, for what that’s worth. I think this is more of a case of the leauge adjusting to his splitter (Chicago moved up in the box for instance).
So hopefully Wang makes his set of adjustments. If guys are moving up in the box, he does have a 95 mph fastball to toss by their letters.
okay, since no one else has said it yet…
handling wang isn’t as easy as it sounds. there are a lot of different factors to take into account. how much abuse can wang handle? you don’t want the guy to get sore. how many times can wang get up this season? if wang has trouble getting loose, can johnson step up?
just some things to keep in mind.
Well done, Amos. How’s Andy?
ya know amos, at least Wang isn’t a p_ssy, nor is he an a__hole.