Chien-Ming Wang took a shutout into the ninth inning tonight against the Devil Rays, and in yet another example of how critical he's been to the Yankees, he's at the top of the league leaders in innings pitched. You could make a case he's one of the five most important Yankees during their first half of the regular season. (Which is a good question, who do you think are the five first-half Yankee MVPs are, in order?)
Back to Wang. Watching him pitch the past year, fans got to be saying, 'Finally, a young pitcher to come through the system who can handle New York.' Totally accurate. It's clear by now that he's the real deal. How can you not believe it?
But when you look back at his road to the majors, it's funny (to us, maybe not so much the Yankees) to take a closer look at his minor-league progression.
For example, he had shoulder surgery while he was in the minors, which can be the equivalent of a scarlet letter for minor-league pitchers. So right there that's a huge knock against him, value-wise. But what jumps out at me the most is that during the 2004 season the Yankees allowed him to pitch in the Olympics.
Nice gesture, yes, but it's hard to believe that if the Yankees really believed he was this good they would have allowed him to do that. His poise on the mound is remarkable, and you wonder if that was always the case in the minors, that he carried himself in a way where nothing seemed to affect him, good or bad.
You got to figure he did, but in the same sense, why wasn't there scouts screaming, 'This guy has the makeup for the big leagues, even New York.' Not only did you not here that, many teams could have had Wang in trades prior to last season, and chose not to. Don't you think the Diamondbacks, in retrospect, would have taken him for Randy? Right now it's the Yankees that wouldn't do that trade.
Comments (10)
This is why I don't put too much faith in projections, scouts, etc. Obviously, no one thought Wang would amount to much. The D-backs turned down a package deal of Wang and Cano...bet they're kicking themselves now.
My votes for first half MVP:
1. Jeter
2. Posada
3. Wang
4. Moose
5. Giambi
Mo should probably be on the list, too.
FIRST HALF MVP- (1)RIVERA (2)RIVERA (3)RIVERA (4)RIVERA and a distant (5)JETER
First half MVP's in order:
1-Mussina
2-Jeter
3-Giambi
4-Rivera
5-Bernie(gave more than was expected )
First-half MVPs:
1. Rivera
2. Jeter
3. Moose
4. Giambi
5. Bernie / Posada (tie)
Yankee fans are so spoiled Mo Rivera will always be this teams MVP. We have just gotten so used to him closing the door. Giambi & Mussina are 2nd and third with Jeter & Wang rounding out the top five. I hope we stand pat and don't make a big trade. I've really enjoyed the youth maturing in front of all our eyes.
My votes for first half MVP:
1. Jeter
2. Posada
3. Wang
4. Moose
5. Damon
6. Mo
I know you said 5 but I can't exclude any of the above.
My votes for first half MVP:
1.Moose
2.Giambi
3.Posada
4.Mo
5.Wang
6.Bernie( minus those outfield mistakes he made..)
1. Giambi
2. Captain Derek
3. Enter Sandman (the real one)
4. Moose
5. Posada
(6) Wang
One comment on the Wang for Johnson trade in '04 - it's my personal belief that if the D'backs HAD made that trade at the '04 deadline that the Yanks would have won the Series that year. The fact is that we were one arm short in '04 which prevented us from closing out the Bosox. A dominant Randy (as he still was in '04) would have been the difference.
So my question for you is - do you trade a poor showing in '06 for a Series ring and perpetual Bosox suffering?? Just some revisionist thinking here...
When a team chokes away a series the way the Yankees did the 2004 ALCS, it is an exercise in futility to claim that having RJ on the roster would have made the difference.
The Yankees had ample chance to win that series, but still failed.
If you want to focus on any one fact that could have changed the outcome, it should be on Torre's reckless use of an already tired Gordon in Game 3 with a big lead, which helped set up his failure in Game 4.
Typical bullpen mismanagement by Four Rings.