Chien-Ming What?

I haven't had a post in a while so I guess its about that time. Chien-Ming Wang, as you all know by now, is doing absolutely terrible.

In three starts, he has pitched 6 innings and given up 23 earned runs, which gives him a fantastic ERA of 34.50. Obviously, this cannot be tolerated at all and the Yankees will skip his next start while he pitches in a game down in Tampa.

Because of an off day as well as rain out, this wont affect the rotation at all. This may sound ridiculous, but I think i may be the only person who is not too worried by this. Sure, his era is 13.5 points higher than by age, but is the team really that much worse off right now? Every day (except for when Wang is starting) we throw out a starter who has a legitimate shot to give us a win. Andy Pettitte has been fantastic. I advocated for the signing of Andy Pettitte throughout the entire off season for the depth and also because I believed he would improve large in part to our improved defense. A.J. Burnett has been fantastic, Joba has had 1 good start and 1 poor start, and although Sabathia has not been lights out, he has put us in a position to win in every game outside of Opening Day.

Wang will have his next start skipped and work out with Dave Eiland on a daily basis in the hopes that they figure this out. If they do, and Wang comes back healthy and ready to go, these three starts will mean almost nothing (besides the fact that Wang needs to pitch four straight shutouts if he wants his ERA to fall below 5.00 as quickly as possible)

If Wang can't figure this out within the next week, they can place him on the DL. As mentioned before with Andy Pettitte, the Yankees have an enormous amount of pitching depth. If Wang must go on the DL, is 3 starts of Phil Hughes who is 2-0 w/a 2.31 ERA at AAA in 11 2/3 innings really gonna kill this team? Or Ian Kennedy who is 1-0 w/an ERA of 2.00 in 18 innings? Odds are, we can throw anybody out there and they will do better than Wang.

Maybe it is just me, but I am not worried. If Wang can figure this out, we will add a pitcher who from 2006-2007 won the most games in the AL. If he doesn't figure it out for a while, we have many minor league options available. There are few teams in baseball, if any, who have a #4 starter as good as Andy Pettitte or a #5 as good as Joba Chamberlain, so I really am not that worried.

Looking to the future though, where does Chien-Ming Wang fit in with this team? Sabathia is locked up for the next 3, but possibly 7 years. A.J. Burnett is here for the next 5. Joba is 23. Phil Huges is 22. Ian Kennedy is 24. On top of all of that, the Yankees have large number of prospects who they consider top of the rotation guys such as Dellen Betances, Andrew Brackman, and my personal favorite, Kei "I wear my sunglasses at night. and in rain showers. and in domes. and while I sleep" Igawa.

So tell me what you guys think. Are you worried about Wang? Do you see him as a long term staple in this rotation? Are you tired of me mentioning the existence of Kei Igawa? Let me know everybody!

On a side note, I wanted to name this piece Chien-Ming Wrong, but then I noticed the wonderful Max Caster of WCWP has already used that. Thanks Max