Written for Baseball Digest Online
The Chien-Ming Wang era has come to a close in the Bronx. The two time 19-game winner, injured for much of the past two seasons, was non-tendered by the Yankees today. Wang was arbitration eligible and stood to make decent coin despite the fact he was 1-6, 9.64 in 2009 before having season ending shoulder surgery.
Wang’s agent Alan Nero expects The Wanger to be ready by opening day, but a more realistic return would be between May and June. The Yankees could still bring Wang back with a minor league contract, but Nero will definitely explore other options (by the way, Sunkia is goodbye in Taiwanese).
Newsday’s Ken Davidoff feels that Joe Torre’s LA Dodgers may be a natural fit. The drawback there, of course, would be that Wang would have to bat. He started just 15 games in 2008 due a season ending Lisfranc injury he suffered during interleague play.
Wang helped turn the Yankees season around in 2005, when he went 8-5 in 18 games after being recalled from Triple-A Columbus. He was then an integral part of pennant contending teams the following two seasons when he went a combined 38-12 and average 208 innings pitched.
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