Yankees Protecting Their Wang

New York Yankees pitcher Chien-Ming Wang has declared that his right shoulder is pain free. One would think this means a rehab assignment is on the way and he can get himself quickly back to the majors, but not so. Marc Carig at Newark Star-Ledger says that Wang refused to put a date on a return to the rotation. No surprise as this was his third stint on the disabled list in the past year.

This is most likely going to be a drawn out process as Wang actually hasn’t even thrown a ball yet. He’s not even scheduled to play catch till Monday. His shoulder may be pain free now but we won’t really know if the pain is gone till then or the day after.

The one plus is Wang is actually getting treatment from the major league trainers and doctors at Yankee Stadium, not the usual take a flight to Tampa. Carig says that Wang has been doing some light strength exercises in addition to the treatment.

I’m hoping his session goes well because the rotation needs him back especially with Sergio Mitre scheduled to take the mound next week against the Baltimore Orioles. Unfortunately, Joe Girardi is thinking long term (someone’s got to get paid to do that) and not going to rush him back. He is considering something else thou.

Before Friday night’s game against the Detroit Tigers, Girardi said the team would consider stretching Phil Hughes relief appearances out in case another starter goes down. This brings two questions to my mind.

1.) Is there something wrong with a Yankees starter that they aren’t telling us? I sure as hell hope not that would be a crushing blow.

2.) Is this being considered because of Hughes new found aggression and lights out performance? This one is a lot more likely. I’m sure the Yankees are looking at it as Hughes turned the corner and proven he’s valuable in any role, so let’s make sure he’s ready should we need a starter.

A big part of me thinks they’re going wow he’s lights out now let’s get that stuff in the rotation. If that’s what they are thinking they should take a look at Joba Chamberlain.

Lights out reliever doesn’t mean lights out starter. In Joba’s case he went from a lights out reliever to a pretty good starter.

Hughes went from a very good starter in his last few starts to a lights out reliever. Will he still be very good when he returns to the rotation or will that take time to come back? Just like Joba did when going to the bullpen he’s eliminated pitches from his repertoire, if he makes the move back to starter he’ll need to regain that feel. It could take a while.

Hughes threw 41 pitches in his appearance against the Tigers and because of that the debate will intensify about them stretching him out. I look at it a different way, he’s our set-up guy but one that could go the 7th and 8th inning. When you go two innings and strike everyone out you’re going to throw pitches, we’ve been there before when Mariano used to do it. And we saw how that turned out.

This is how I hope it plays out. Wang feels good in his throwing session and gets his rehabilitation underway and returns in early August. Hughes stretches out some so he can go two innings as a set-up guy, and in case of emergency we can break the glass and use him for a spot start.

If those both happen the Yankees should be making an October appearance.

I just hope Girardi doesn’t start managing to protect his job instead………

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Tags: Chien-Ming Wang, MLB, New York Yankees, Phil Hughes