Monday, June 16, 2008

Early Signs On Wang's Injury Are Grim

From Tyler Kepner:
The Yankees’ season changed irreversibly on Sunday. Chien-Ming Wang’s season is in jeopardy with a serious injury to his right foot, and C. C. Sabathia instantly became a very important name in the Yankees’ universe.

Wang staggered to the plate in the sixth inning with the fifth run of a 13-0 rout of the Houston Astros. He did not speak to reporters, but he told others that he felt a pop in his foot while rounding third base, a strong sign of ligament damage that could sideline him for months, if not the rest of the season.

“That’s a manager’s worst nightmare,” Joe Girardi said. “Pitchers on the basepaths.”

The Yankees called the injury a sprained right foot, and they will hope for the best until Wang has a magnetic resonance imaging test in New York on Monday. But the early signs are grim.

The injury is to the top of Wang’s foot, the same general area that reliever Brian Bruney injured when he tripped while covering first base in April. Bruney was found to have a Lisfranc injury and is expected to miss a minimum of three months.

Wang has symptoms of the same injury, including swelling and the inability to bear weight on the foot; he left Minute Maid Park on crutches, in a soft cast. Bruney’s injury was in the middle of the foot, and Wang’s is believed to be in the webbing of his toes, between his big toe and second toe.

“I feel sore,” Wang said in a statement to the Yankees’ media relations director, Jason Zillo. “The doctor says I have to go to get an M.R.I. tomorrow. Of course I’m disappointed.”

Wang was examined by an Astros team doctor, John Duggan, but he did not have X-rays. Girardi said he would be shocked if Wang made his next start.

“You’re going to go through injuries, and you’ve got to find a way to get it done,” Girardi said. “But it’s not easy to replace 19 wins.”

That's the $100,000 question; how will the Yankees replace Chien-Ming Wang if this injury is long-term, and if this injury is as bad as people are speculating it could be a season-ender.

Here are some of the options to replace The Wanger: C.C. Sabathia is of course on the top of many people's list, he is also by far the best pitcher who may become available, but he would be cost the Yanks the most in return.

Steve Lombardi of WasWatching.com wonders if the Yanks would make a run at Derek Lowe. He's durable and a free agent at the end of the season.

Other trade possibilities may include Rich Harden and Joe Blanton of the A's, Greg Maddux and Randy Wolf of the Padres, the Dodgers may be open to trading Brad Penny , the Reds' Bronson Arroyo, Kevin Millwood and Vicente Padilla from Texas, and there has even been talk that the Mariners may look to trade Erik Bedard.

Harden and Bedard are the only names here that interest me.

The Yanks have several in-house options that include Daniel McCutchen, Alan Horne, Dan Giese, Alfredo Aceves (still at AA Trenton), Jeff Karstens, Kei Igawa (NO!), Ian Kennedy who will be able to pitch in a couple weeks, and Phil Hughes, though he's still months away.

The Yanks could also sign Freddy Garcia, who is a free agent and will be ready to pitch sometime in July.

Wang's next scheduled start is Saturday, I expect to see Giese, Karstens, or McCutchen start in his place, and the Yanks will go from there.

OK, you're Brian Cashman, if Wang's injury puts him on
the shelf for two months or more what would you do?

15 Comments:

Anonymous said...

I would bring up McCutchen, sign Freddy Garcia to see what he has, and trade for a guy. If Rich Harden could stay healthy he would be just as good as Wang. Brad Penny and Erik Bedard have not been good, maybe they could get them cheaper since they've struggled. I like Blanton but he wont come too cheap. No way to Greg Maddux. -That leaves CC. If Wangs done for the year we absolutely need Sabathia. He's the defending Cy Young Award winner and it looks like he's turning it around after a terrible start. Hopefully we catch lighting in a bottle, like Aaron Small/ Shawn Chacon in 2005.

Anonymous said...

I'd give McCutchen a chance first and see what he can do. If he can't cut it, then I'd explore the trade market.

Anonymous said...

Easily try the in house optins first and if we see no results are left with no other decision than to go after CC then do it.

Bostowned said...

Farm system! Cleveland would rape the Yanks for CC and if you watched the guy this season, hes not doing all that great. Id love to see some minor leagues given a chance. Right now our offense has been hot so theres a good chance a kid can earn a win and build some confidence towards future starts. Thats more then I can say for IPK or Hughes.

Anonymous said...

another option, not great but still good, could be Gil Meche

Anonymous said...

wang out 10 weeks

Anonymous said...

devastating news, a late August comeback would be the best case scenario right now. I personally think he's done for the year.

Anonymous said...

mid september

Anonymous said...

I really want Erik Bedard after this loss, Bedard will be much more cheaper to acquire than Sabathia and he won't demand as much money as CC ( if we did sign him). Does Seattle have any expensive players we can take off their hands, other than Sexson?

Anonymous said...

they just traded for bedard why would they re-trade him? they just gave up 2 good pitchers adam jones.. some good prospects

Anonymous said...

hes going to leave after next year anyway, he hasn't been the guy they hoped for on the field and in the club house, they suck anyway, they dont think he loves playing baseball. All I know is that he could be a great pitcher and win us alot of games, if we got him. And the GM was just fired so the new one might want to make a splash and restock the farm system. After seeing Phil Hughes get hurt again, I ask myself is this the next Rich Harden/ Mark Prior. Hes got so much potential but the injures are scaring me and I not totally against trading him if the price is right( aka Roy Oswalt, Bedard, CC)

Greg Cohen said...

Cashman is saying that there really is no trade market, at least it has not "shown itself" yet.

Anonymous said...

Harden, Bedard and Burnett.

Greg Cohen said...

The thing that scares me about Harden and Burnett is they're both very injury prone.

I do like the idea of Bedard, and with Seattle firing their GM he may be a possibility.

Anonymous said...

ill sing CC & erik berdar then when wang comes back well have the best pitching and best offense and we would win the world series i know we have to get cc and erik bedar didnt get run support and the yankess score more than the mariners and because all the errors from the mariners rose his era because all those runs from errors so erik would do good and cc is great maybe the future Yankees go for them and if one rejects you go for dan haren