[外電] Bradley: Former Yankee Chien-Ming Wang has a chance to r

看板CMWang (王建民 - 大樹哥)作者yyhong68 (come every now and then)時間14年前 (2011/09/14 13:16)推噓28(28推 0噓 19→)

留言47則, 27人參與討論串1/1

Bradley: Former Yankee Chien-Ming Wang has a chance to recapture glory Published: Tuesday, September 13, 2011, 4:00 AM By Jeff Bradley/Star-Ledger Columnist The Star-Ledger NEW YORK — When Brian Cashman thinks of Chien-Ming Wang, of course he thinks of the Taiwanese right-hander’s back-to-back 19-win seasons for the Yankees in 2006 and 2007. But what the Yankees general manager thinks about more than those two seasons are the years the Yankees spent developing Wang after signing him as a 20-year-old. “He became a No. 1 starter,” Cashman said Monday. “And I argued on his behalf when people told me I was wrong about that.” Cashman knows the argument against Wang as a No. 1 was always his low strikeout totals. Still, he’s not swayed. “His power-sinker made him a ground-ball machine. He ate innings for us. A fierce competitor. The total package.” Tonight, against the Mets at Citi Field, Wang will make his eighth start of the season for the Nationals. It’s just Wang’s eighth start since the Yankees did not tender him a contract after two injury-filled seasons, and a surgical procedure on his shoulder in July 2009. “It’s astonishing to me that he’s back on the mound,” Cashman said. “But it’s a credit to the type of person Chien-Ming Wang has always been. Our medical staff rated his chances of returning at about 30 percent, which we felt was too great a risk. Based on that information, we could only offer him a minor-league contract with incentives.” The Nationals, however, rolled the dice. In February 2010, they signed Wang to a one-year, $2 million contact. And while Wang did not throw a single pitch last season, the Nats offered him another year and another million this season. Finally, in late July, Wang took the ball. He carries a 2-3 record and a 4.43 ERA into tonight’s start. The Nats lost Wang’s first two starts, then won his next three. They’ve lost Wang’s last three starts heading into tonight. In most of his starts, he’s been good if not great. But for a pitcher who wasn’t sure he’d ever throw in a game again, it’s all good. “I was worried that I’d never pitch again,” Wang said through a translator. “But I was really only left with two options. One was to give up. The other was to work.” While that seems like a no-brainer for a pitcher who just turned 31 in March, the history of pitchers being able to return from the surgery he had in 2009, to repair a torn capsule, is not great. It was also not the first time Wang had undergone shoulder surgery. As a Yankee farmhand, he missed the entire 2001 season after surgery. There’s often a fear when pitchers need to have a procedure performed in an area that’s already been treated. Basically, the warning lights are always on. That’s why the Yankees passed on him. “The rehab was very tough,” said Wang, “But I feel like I’m close to being back to the pitcher I was with the Yankees. Once my velocity picks up, I think I’ll be fine.” Wang says he feels indebted to the Nationals for taking a chance on him, and hopes to return to pitch for them next season, even if it means taking a step back in salary. He knows if Stephen Strasburg continues to be as good as advertised, he will never have to be the No. 1 Cashman believed he was four years ago. “It’s funny,” said Cashman, “but internally, we had Chien-Ming Wang and Robinson Cano rated as our top two prospects years ago even though there wasn’t a lot of statistical evidence to back us up.” The Nationals now hope he can be an under-the-radar contributor to their construction project. Nationals manager Davey Johnson said, “I’ve seen progress every time he’s gone out there. Sometimes he’s had problems with the consistency of his sinker, and some games he’s started off getting hit pretty hard. I think a lot of it has to do with not trusting that he’s fully recovered from the injury. I think these starts are very important for him.” Wang’s sinker, when it was most devastating four and five years ago, crossed the plate at 93 and 94 miles per hour and wore out hitters’ psyches. It was a pitch that enabled him to rack up groundball outs in the teens start after start. “I have seen signs of him getting back to that level,” said Johnson. “But you’re looking at a guy who’s been out two years with a severe injury. It would be easy to be judgmental. But as a baseball man, I’m seeing progress. If he can make the rest of his starts and have a winter to continue building the trust in his arm, I think the best is yet to come.” If that happens, the Yankee GM will applaud. “It would be a great comeback story,” Cashman said, “if he came back to anything close to the pitcher he was for us.” Jeff Bradley: jbradley@starledger.com; Twitter.com/jerseyjbradley http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2011/09/bradley_former_yankees_chien-m.html -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 140.109.23.99

推

casko

09/14 13:25, , 1^F

09/14 13:25, 1^F

→

puzzler

09/14 13:28, , 2^F

09/14 13:28, 2^F

推

ptyan

09/14 13:28, , 3^F

09/14 13:28, 3^F