What’s Wrong With Wang?
By Mike Silva ~ April 14th, 2009. Filed under: Mike Silva.
Two years ago NYBD contributor Howard Megdal called him an “occasional ace”. Later that year, Chien Ming Wang was nothing close to an ace in the Yankees loss to the Indians in the ALDS. Any concerns you had about a lingering post-season hangover were unfounded as Wang started the 2008 season 5-0 with a 3.23 ERA. Since that hot start Wang has seen his strikeouts decrease, his walks increase, and has been a less than .500 pitcher. Has the league caught up with him?
Wang’s success has been getting hitters to pound his bowling ball sinker into the ground. I argued with Howard, that an out is out, when the low strikeout rate concerned him. I am not ready to panic when it comes to Wang’s performance, but my eyebrow certainly has been raised by the slow start. As Joel Sherman points out, if AL hitter lays off that sinker early in the count, there are no other weapons for him to navigate a major league lineup.
Can he learn another pitch as Ron Darling suggested to Mike Francesa? It’s probably too late for that in 2009. Even if Wang fixes his broken delivery you have to hope that hitters haven’t started to figure him out. All pitchers have to make adjustments throughout their career. Pedro Martinez, Mike Mussina, and Tom Glavine are some recent examples. The bigger question is whether Wang has it in him to make such adjustments. An ineffective Wang makes this Yankees rotation much more shallow in the heavy hitting AL East.
