Monday, September 12, 2011

Nationals Considering Extending Wang

Then again, who among us isn’t?  After waiting the past two seasons for Chien-Ming Wang to make it back to a Major League mound, the Nationals were finally “rewarded” with the former Yankee All-Star finally toed the rubber for Washington in 2011.  While he’s hardly having a stellar season, with more walk than strikeouts and a 4.43 ERA, Wang has apparently impressed Washington team officials with his diligence and work ethic.   It’s also a dramatic improvement from his last big league season (2009) in which he went 1-6 with a [gulp] 9.64 ERA.  Phew.  It’s nice to see progress, but is gumption alone enough reason to simply throw away money?
Baseball is a results oriented game.  If you’re not first, you’re last and so on.  Considering his 2011 season stats, wherever they end up., there’s no way in hell that Wang has earned a spot on the Nationals team for 2012.  Has he?  Considering the direction in which the team seems to be moving (see: Jayson Werth), it looks like they feel they’re looking to contend in the near future.  A pitcher like Wang is hardly in a position to move them in that direction—not now.  In fact, there has never really been a point in time when Wang was good as the accolades he received.
Believe it or not (and only a Yankee fan would), Wang actually finished second in American League Cy Young voting in 2006 after going 19-6 with a 3.63 ERA.  Meh.  He pitched 218 innings that season and retired just 76 via strikeout, a miserable 3.1 K/9.  In fact, Wang’s career K/9 (4.1) is the lowest of any Major League pitcher with two or more seasons with at least 19 wins.  No, that’s not a real stat, but without looking, it seems logical to assume it to be true.  For all the wins he amassed (largely as a result of playing for THE New York Yankees), Wang is viewed in some circles as a solid pitcher because he’s a “winner”.  Sure.  Right.  Werth came from a culture of winning in Philadelphia too, and everyone has seen how is winning ways have translated to on-field success in and for Washington.

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