THURSDAY, 7:45pm: Nero says that Wang is reconsidering his plan not to return from shoulder surgery until a couple months into the season, writes Jayson Stark of ESPN. Nero says that "four or five teams" are pursuing Wang more aggressively than expected and therefore, his client could sign before Spring Training if he receives the right offer.
Stark mentions the Mets, Dodgers, and Cardinals as potential destinations for the 29-year-old hurler.
MONDAY, 5:32pm: Ken Rosenthal catches up with Chien-Ming Wang's agent, Alan Nero, who reports that a half-dozen teams are currently reviewing Wang's medical records.
Wang is training with an eye on throwing off a mound within a week or two, Nero added.
“We’re anticipating a major-league offer with a substantial guarantee and substantial upside,” Nero said.
The way that works out, timing-wise, Wang should be throwing off a mound right as the teams licking their wounds from losing out on Ben Sheets are ready to take notice.
The two are hardly similar pitchers, however. While Sheets gets more fly balls than ground balls and has a healthy strikeout rate, Wang is quite dependent on his infield defense.
So for those who miss out on Sheets, better check to see if Luis Castillo or Michael Young is playing for your team before going after Wang. If so, you might want to save your money.
I hope the Cardinals are in.
All reports have said they are interested, time will tell if they are interested enough to offer the right amount of money to get him. Larussa wants a utility guy like Flip Lopez while Mo wants an arm, we’ll see who will win.
why not both lol? kiko calero for 3MM and floppy for 4MM, both 1 year deals with club options. Thats the 7MM we had left to spend and the team is set.
I prefer Smoltz and Floppy myself, that would make for a pretty good offseason really.
For the money left i think grabbing Floppy, and Wang would be the way to go. That would be a nice happy ending to the offseason
Cardinals fans love Floppy/Wang
Go Yankees!
Floppy.. wang.. happy ending.. that was the joke.
U yankee fans are quick
I feel like I have read that exact comment before.
Agreed. Think Duncan knows any Thai?
Mo already said if they sign anyone else it will be on the offensive side. Doubt that was a decoy.
The rest are considering Posey.
They like Pujols, why wouldn’t they like Wang?
Mets, Cardinals, Dodgers most likley are 3 of them
Castillo or not, Wang is a better bet than 2/5, and maybe 4/5, of the Mets’ rotation. I’d certainly love to see them sign him.
Definitely. While Castillo is a poor fielder, it’s not like the Yankees were some elite defense when Wang was playing. A-Rod, Giambi, Cano, and pre-“I should improve my range” Jeter? If Wang is healthy and pitching like before, the plays should be easy enough that even a junky defense can get them.
Though personally, I am not convinced that Wang has recovered and I am not sure if I even believe he will recover.
Jim M…….Amazing comment…….Cano is oft mentioned as the slickest of all young 2nd basemen in the majors. A-Rod and Jeter, just winners and all-stars every year. Who is better at what they do? Jeez…….Also, Giambi is gone. Wanna talk about Tex?
Cano: slick player, makes lots of bone-headed choices.
A-Rod: All-Star, yes. Stellar defense at 3rd base? No way.
Jeter: Until this past season, his play at shortstop left a lot to be desired.
Giambi: We’re talking about when Wang was a valuable part of the Yankees rotation. That was in 2007 and 2008 — when Giambi was the New York first baseman, and Teixeira was playing for Texas/Atlanta/Anaheim.
In 2007, which was Wang’s best year, Cano, Giambi and ARod put together passable defense (Jeter was abysmal). That said, they are all below-average defenders (UZR doesn’t think much of Tex either, putting him at around average).
J.D.
The problem I have with your posting is, it is not 2007. Jeter had a poor season. Big deal. This is 2010, and overall, Jeter is being touted as the second best shortstop of all time. That would be second only to the great Honus Wagner. I am a Yankee fan, and I do try to remain as objective as possible, but, to go back to 2007 to dog Jeter is wrong. Who, in your opinion, has a better infield than that of the Yankees? A-Rod, Jeter, Cano, and Tex look pretty good to us. See ya…….
Mick
________________________________
Jeter and A-Rod are perennial all-stars, yes, but their defense in recent years was less than exciting. Cano is a meh fielder forced to learn 2B on the job, his position coming up was 3B. Wang hasn’t pitched since Tex came in.
Agreed. Pay no attention to Mick07, as he has not done his homework. Cano has only had one season where his range was above average (and every other season he was below average.) A-Rod has been up and down defensively (outside of last year, which was mostly due to the hip, if he was having a “bad” year offensively, he let it affect his defense as well.). I need not say anything about Jeter, as we all know that this past season he was finally good on defense. Teix does not need to be mentioned, as he wasn’t around when Wang was his old self. Though, just to mention him, he was average this year, more or less, but that could improve.
The thing about Wang is that he didn’t need a stellar infield defense. He just needed guys that could field a simple ground ball, as he was getting really routine GB outs with his hard 95mph+ sinker. The problem is, he lost about 5mph off of his fastball/sinker, which makes it a lot easier to take the ball down the line and up the middle. His mechanics are all out of whack, and it isn’t as simple as just recovering from injury for him.
“for those who miss out on Sheets, better check to see if Luis Castillo or Michael Young is playing for your team before going after Wang. If so, you might want to save your money”So now Castillo is the equivalent of Mike Jacobs – at 2B? Let’s not overdo it there…although yeah, with any luck, Omar & the Wilpons will reconsider and bring in the O-Dawg.
Castillo has little-to-no range at 2B. Yes, at one point in his career he was a top defensive 2B, but those days are long gone.
Yeah, I wouldn’t debate that (one of the reasons why, if scouting reports about Delgado’s defense are accurate, the Mets should not dream of re-signing him. Castillo would not be able to compensate for him – a point I made on another thread). I guess my thing is that beggars can’t be choosers, so at this point the Mets may well have to sign the likes of Wang, and take their chances with Castillo (since they seem to insist on it) or bite the bullet and look at the short-term 2B options available in the O-Dawg (who admittedly is not what he was either, but not quite Castillo), or Felipe López.
I know it was a joke, but you know.. the rangers have a pretty good defensive infield. Andrus/Kinsler were among the best middle infield combinations in the league, Davis is solid (UZR is useless for 1b people), and Young was playing a pretty good 3b by the end of his first season there.
what do you think he means by substantial base?
4 million?
weird.. he made 5 mil last year and had (i assume) negative value. the richest team in baseball non-tendered him to avoid paying him between 5-6 mil but the agent thinks he’ll get a substantial base and substantial upside? what am i missing..
If Wang gets a base of 5-6mil this year, some team is really getting the shaft.
great point…i was thinkin that earlier in the offseason when the yanks non-tendered wang. i thought LA would be the 1st to jump on it, since they are definitely a contender but had a quiet offseason, as far as new acquisitions. kinda thought the yanks would just wait to see what wang gets offered, and then come in and double it…like what the do with all their grossly overpaid players
I think that the mariners would be a great fit for wang
I agree. He’s the kind of #3 guy they need.
castillo isnt great defensively but he is not horrible, so he shouldnt stop the mets from signing wang. also wang may prefer to stay in NY because he already lives there so the mets have a pretty good chance on getting him.
i think the mets HAVE to sign wang if they miss out on sheets if they want any chance at the WC or division.
but michael young won a gold glove……. oh right..
Agents always want more than their client is worth it seems. He’s probably asking for 4-5 mil that can go up to 8 or something, but I’d be surprised if he gets much more than 2.
really? nobody is going to laugh at the headline. You all must love you some Wang!
LOVE the title.. Lol
How can this headline not be mocked yet? I know the phrasing is intentional. I also heard A-Rod and Piazza are considering Wang. I don’t believe the rumor that Eldric did, though, just a ploy to sell her story.
I would’ve preferred “6 teams interested in Wang”
I reaaaaally hope the giants are one of the teams. A “San Fransico looking at Wang” headline would make my day.
Or…
– “SF having trouble landing Wang”
– “Wang pleased by Met’s offer”
– “Wang’s demands hard to meet”
– “Jeter reunited with Wang”
Not quite sure what to make of the Young/Castillo reference. If you’re saying they are bad at fielding ground balls, I can name a dozen worse, at each position. As far as Wang is concerned, he’d be #1 on my list. If he’s healthy, he’d be like life, death and/or taxes- a guaranteed thing. Ditto with Brandon Webb next year.
The M’s have a catcher on the roster named Rob Johnson. Maybe he could be Wang’s personal catcher.
Wang to Johnson has a nice ring to it…
With a backup named Moore.
Moore, Johnson for Wang!
i wonder if the Philllies are interested, I know they spoke with his and Ben Sheets’ agent but i doubt they would go after them, the 5th starter will probably be Kenderick or Moyer if he doesnt retire and become the bullpen coach
Moyer’s status will determine a lot. He wasn’t as bad as he seemed last year (at home he was atrocious; on the road he was strong — or vice versa. I forget.). I think the Phillies would rather give Kendrick one last shot rather than sign Wang, even if Wang is a ground-ball machine.
yea the phils 5th spot is a toss-up. moyer is owed money, so he will pitch in some capacity, but he may not be ready for start of season. so, kendrick may begin, when its not SOOOOO crucial to have those games won, just as his sort of trial and error period, again. if he does well, maybe he stays and moyer stays as the long-man bullpen guy. but it would be nice to see what wang can bring in. even though he wont be ready for opening day, a cheap investment here i think will pay out in the future. seriously, the guys only been around 5 seasons (partial seasons) he has plenty of time to bounce back and be a dominant pitcher again. if the price is right i say go for it
I don’t think the Cardinals are going to sign another utility bat aside from maybe Jim Edmonds. If the Cardinals do get serious with Wang, we need to make sure that we have enough left to get at least 1 more reliever. Our main priority should be to find a solid reliever to help Franklin.
Are these teams seriously considering Wang, or are they simply feeling Wang out to see how much money he wants…to gauge their own interest? If you can get Wang for pennies on the dollar, then that’s a decision that should be thought long and hard about. Some GM’s may want to take on Wang just to experiment, to kinda see what happens and if they like it or not, but others may have had their eyes on Wang all offseason.
next headline: Amaro grabs Wang
I’m sure the Twins would take a long, hard look at Wang and see if there’s an opening he fits into.
/too easy
For as much as the Twins are rumored to be looking for low-cost rotation options, I’m surprised they’re not linked to Chien-Ming. He’s an extreme ground ball pitcher, and considering our infield will consist of Punto, Hardy, Morneau, and likely a free agent infielder with a decent glove (Crede? Lopez?), our infield is likely to be very strong defensively.
Definitely prefer him to a bum like Washburn…
The Mets should grab Sheets then Garland or Wang. Rotation:
Santana
Sheets
Garland/Wang
Pelfrey
Perez
Wow the diehard Mets fan forgets about Maine. I would put Maine as 5th and Perez in the pen until someone trades for him and when i mean trade for him i mean if they offer you a plastic spider ring you take it.
the Mets have Maine, too. Not sure they’d give Maine a spot over Perez, but unless they can dump Perez’s salary, I doubt they’ll give Wang and Sheets their 2 & 3 spots when both are coming off injury. Maine is coming back from an injury as well, but at least the mets know the history of it. Still, it’s a bunch of question marks.
Maine goes to the pen…or Perez.
michael young gets no love and is finally brought up, and its in a supposedly shameful light. talk about a guy who has done everything asked of him and gobs more for his franchise. christ.
maybe ask wang if he takes points off when considering a contract offer from the rangers because michael young is on the team?
Glad to see someone else who appreciates Michael Young. I’m not even a Rangers fan, but I like Michael a lot.
Anyway, I think he did more than an acceptable job at third, considering it’s a position he didn’t even want to play coming into the 2009 season. He just moved where he had to move to help the rest of the team.
It’s a joke, get a grip. The guy makes 16 million a year, I don’t feel too sorry for him.
Yeah, Young is over-paid a bit. He’s never played acceptable defense in his life.
If he could consistently hit 25+HRs a year, then the contract would be acceptable, at least.
I hope but doubt the cheap Dodgers are in on him.
Come on Dodgers!
Dick Pole can be the pitching coach.
Howard, are you trying to secretly convince us Mets fans that a GB pitcher like Wang would be a bad move for the Mets because of Luis Castillo? Should they also bench Big Pelf?
Sure Castillo has little range, but we do have three other decent infielders. Plus, O-Dog isn’t much of an improvement, either.
I bet you’re going to suggest the Mets should instead sign Nelson Figueroa to a guaranteed multi-year deal.
link to facebook.com..1
I’d be very happy if Omar was able to pull Wang and Sheets. It’d give the rotation lots of upside and depth. It’s not like a guy like Garland is going to blow anyone away, especially when the Mets could get similar production from a threesome of Niese, Nieve and Figgy.
So is Wang under Sheets in the pecking order?
There will be a stiff bidding war for Wang, a lot of teams have holes in their rotation. I think it will come down to whoever has the biggest hole to fill will probably get Wang
I wonder who will catch wang’s sinking balls?
Wang will have to work on his stroke if he goes to the NL. Does anyone know how he handles the lumber? Does he hold it at the knob?
He’s good with the wood.
I believe wang’s sinking balls will be best suited for the long grass at wrigley field. The long grass will keep wang’s balls from getting through as many holes.
a sinker baller needs a reliable defense to back him up as well, i wouldnt call the cubs defense spectacular or anything, but its not worse then the diamondbacks or what not.
Cubs could be a fit, but not the best fit IMO.
Wang has Dave Duncan written all over him. I can’t think of a more perfect spot for him than the cardinals.
Yea dude, the shot at Mike Young was a little uncalled for. You have to cut him some slack in his first year at the hot corner; not everyone is a natural Brooks Robinson over there. And considering the Rangers have one of the best middle infields in baseball along with a pretty good defensive first baseman, idk why he wouldn’t consider the Rangers as a possible destination
Ok, so I want to bring a rational question to the arguement. So arguably we all agree that ’06 was a pretty good year for the Mets. Name me their consistent rotation. If I remember correctly it consisted of Martinez, Glavine, Tracsel, Maine and a side show that includes a dead guy, Jose Lima and additional clowns from a VW Bug. They traded for the Oliver Perez and still managed to wind up 1 out from getting into the World Series. Let’s also remember that that game was lost by their bullpen, considered amazing, and nearly won by their shaky rotation. Mid-season trades are always availible, as well as mid-season GM signings. At one point, prior to A-Rod coming back (and at times well into his return) people on WFAN were declaring the Yanks dead in the water but they still won the WS. If numbers won championships then the Cards wouldn’t have 12 rings and the Yanks, Braves, Red Sox and Angels would have far more than they do. I think too much is made of the off-season while it happens because baseball isn’t happening.
you make a really good point, its the players that win games not the scorecards and roster slips.
btw: cardinals have 10 rings, not 12.
not enough is made of the off-season! do you understand that a half dozen teams have a chance to get Wang right now!
dodgers maybe?
The dodgers might be in it, but the problem might be the money and you would think he would like to play in a pitchers park and play for his old manager, if he does sign with LA hopefully he stays healthy.
Want a strong infield to pitch to? How about Rolen 3B (GG), Janish SS (GG capable just isn’t popular enough to win it), Phillips 2B (GG), and Votto 1B who isn’t too bad himself. Ya Wang might not like the small ballpark but if he is a groundball pitcher I can’t really think of a better defensive infield. We shocked everyone with Chapman. I think we would have at least a discussion to bring Wang to Cincy since we sent people to the Sheets workout.
If Wang or Sheets want a great defense and pitchers park then they go to Seattle! All world center fielder (best defender in all of baseball, not just CF). They had the best defense in the A.L. last year and this year they went out and got two more glove guys in Kotchman and Figgins. If any pitcher wants to put up great numbers go to Safeco field. It will be fun to see what Cliff Lee’s numbers look like this year and I’m sure one of those two (Wang, Sheets) would’nt mind joining him and Felix.
go get wang dodgers!!!!
I’d like to think the Rizzo and the Nats are in on this one. Although, even if they were, Wang will probably be weary of hitting again…interleague play was a bit too much for him as it was…
The comments in this thread are absolutely hilarious. I speak of all the puns, of course.
The Mets should sign Sheets and the M’s should sign Wang. Sheets would do great in the Mets new stadium and give them a really good arm behind Santana. Wang would of course benefit from Seattle’s amazing defense and then the M’s would have the option of retaining him over Lee. Either way a 1-2-3 of Felix-Lee-and Wang is kinda scary.
“Minaya disappointed in his [starting] fivesome, looks to add solid Wang.”
thats a white people thing i guess? (Wang) huh?
Wang should fit in with the Dodgers. We all know how highly Jamie McCourt values Wang. Hopefully he can be a healthy Wang and not have to prematurely end his season.
Have Mets become this low? They are considering Braden Looper? Really?
dodgers could use a litttle wang
I hope the M’s consider Wang. Looking for a #3 arm, and his agent is Alan Nero, who is also the agent for Hernandez and Gutierrez…
I hope he signs with Cleveland so every few days we have a shot at Wang followed by Wood.
Can we end these immature Wang jokes? It’s not his fault what name he had, no need to insult him about something out of his control
OK. I’ll drop my wang.
no need to get upset over wang.
Looks like mlbtraderumors caught on, the headline now includes his first name.
As a closer. Imagine him giving up more than home run each start…
Different market. I even think Jeter makes a little too much (about 3 or 4 mil, give or take), but hey, Young has played in obscurity for his entire career, and Jeter’s contract was given to him when the Yankees decided that he was going to be the face of the franchise, and paid him accordingly.
And being the face of the Yankees is a much different thing than being the face of the Rangers.