My oldest son turned 8 right around Opening Day. He’s a huge baseball fan (no surprise, I know). He was born on April 4th (4/4) at 6:44am and I was wearing my Reggie jersey (#44), it being Opening Day and all. Needless to say, his favorite number is 44 and he’s a baseball nut.
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My newest favorite subject, Chien Ming Wang, ran his record to a league-best 6-0 last night. He gave us a bit of a scare when he had a cramp in his hand, but at the time, we weren’t sure just how serious it was. Turns out it was just that, a simple cramp. Good news.
So how’d he do?
Pretty darn good, again. His line: 6 IP, 90 pitches, 3 hits, 1 ER, 5 K’s, 2 BB.
Let’s continue the examination:
Ground ball/Fly ball
Wang’s GB:FB rate continues the slide from the 3′s to now under 2.0 (1.92, per ESPN). The chart to the right captures the ratio with the blue line. What to make of this? Well, clearly Wang’s evolution from primarily a sinkerballer is in full bloom. Again, if he was just losing his ability to control the sinker, leaving everything up, would be a concern. But that’s not the case.
The proof is the fact that he’s only surrendered one HR this year. He’s notoriously stingy with giving up the long ball, giving up just 9 last year and 12 the year before. (Bronson Arroyo does that every few weeks.)
K-Rate
Note, using the orange bars, the spike in K-rates for Wang this year. He’s now at 6.40 K/9 IP. Ladies and gentlemen, this is not insignificant. This is not an aberration. This is a pitcher who has won 19 games each of the last two years, his first FULL two years in the league, getting better. This is the evidence of a person who is driven to be better, every day. When I first started following Wang this way, he was at 5.06 K/9. Now, after his 9 K performance last week and last night, he’s bumped to 6.40. Very impressive. [Caveat: yes, it's still a small sample size but we've got enough to chew on.]
Pitches per inning
Wang got thru the end of the first inning on just 9 pitches and needed 90 pitches to get thru six innings. That’s 15 pitches/inning for those without a handy calculator, which is right in line with the 14.6 P/IP he’s averaged all year. It’s still a bit higher than in the past but that’s going to happen with the higher K rates.
Repetoire
I mentioned in earlier postings that the reason for all this is his new additions to his repetoire. Seems that the MSM (that’s blogger-speak for ‘main stream media’) is catching on, too:
In the past, Wang relied heavily on his sinker most nights. This year, he’s shown a more varied repertoire.“We don’t even talk. That’s probably the good thing about it. I don’t know if he likes me, anywhere,” joked [Jose] Molina, who sported a Wang T-shirt. “Now you have to look for the slider, maybe change, maybe split, and still have the sinker there.”
Wang’s a better pitcher this year. He won 19 games last year after winning 0 until May 5th last year. Think about that for a second. He missed the first few weeks due to injury and didn’t win until the second month of the season, yet still won 19. He’s got 6 wins on May 2nd this year. Where’s he going to end up?
No matter what the number is, he’s a better pitcher and still getting better. Scary thought. And the Yanks certainly need him to keep it going given the struggles of their young guns and all the injuries.
I’ll be watching.
Related posts:
Re-examining Wang
Examining Wang
Some days, when you are in need of a mental pick-me-up, you don’t get squat. Days like today, on the other hand, we get this:
Bobby Murcer is feeling better and ready to begin broadcasting New York Yankees games again. The longtime announcer and former All-Star outfielder was at Yankee Stadium on Thursday and plans to resume his full broadcasting schedule starting Friday night when New York hosts the Seattle Mariners.
Murcer, who turns 62 this month, said it’s taken him a while to recover from the brain biopsy he had in early March. He had surgery in December 2006, four days after being diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, but returned to the broadcast booth last season.
Last night, I again reiterated my confidence in Cashman, my plea for patience, and my general hope that Hughes (and Kennedy) will ultimately be OK. I woke up still feeling that way, but, I can’t help but wonder if we’re watching the onset of a slow motion train wreck. The chart below summarizes my confidence in the team making the playoffs as well as it tracks the Yanks chances of winning last night’s game:
Yes, the Yanks had a worse April last year and still made the playoffs. But, ARod and Posada were having career (or near-) career seasons. Joba, Kennedy, Duncan all came up later in the season and gave the vets a much needed kick in the tail. Cano was struggling then, too. This year, Damon and Abreu seem to be better, healthier. Jeter’s conspicuously quiet. Hughes and Kennedy, well, you know. Giambi has become a three true outcome hitter and quite painful to watch at bat AND in the field. Pettitte is about what we could expect and Moose is actually doing a bit better. Wang, as I’ve written about before here, has worked himself into a new pitcher and doing quite well.
But how is this team going to make the playoffs? The short answer is, unless Pettitte, Moose and Wang are going to win 3 out of every 5 games, at least, from here on out, we’re not. Joba riding in to “save” the team as a starter is an unfair burden. And if we, the fans, have learned ANYTHING (doubtful, I know) about heaping the pressure of being a savior on the young kids, it’s not a fair move for Joba. We all love this kid, but what if he struggles as well? Then what? Kill him, too?
I said it last year and I repeated it this year: I am OK with missing the playoffs so long as I feel the team is moving in the right direction. Remember Hank’s comments from earlier this year:
“I will be patient with the young pitchers and players. There’s no question about that because I know how these players develop,” he said. “But as far as missing the playoffs – if we miss the playoffs by the end of this year, I don’t know how patient I’ll be. But it won’t be against the players. It won’t be a matter of that. It will be a matter of maybe certain people in the organization could have done something else.”
I can’t disagree more. In fact, in a highly-egotistical move, quoting myself:
I try to maintain a long term view for the Yanks. They are not, unlike the smaller market teams, tied to a narrow window before their best players “graduate”. Those smaller market studs tend to graduate to teams like the Yanks. If the Yanks have to take a post-season pause this year to set themselves up for another 5-7 year stretch of prosperity, so be it.
So now what? It’s May 2nd. Let’s not throw our future out in the garbage by trashing them. They are just young kids, Hughes being the youngest starter in the Majors. Give them a chance. Take a deep breath. And if this year passes and we’re home in October, so be it. Next year, the albatross contracts are gone. We become a leaner organization with fiscal flexibility to make the strategic signing (hear me, CC? You too, Teix!). And hopefully, we become younger and more fun.
And not for nothing, but this kid Alberto Gonzalez is a player. He already looks better at SS than Jeter does. (Hey, where’d that lightening come from?). He should be a starter SOON. But where? Jeter’s 34. Just sayin’. Even Ernie Banks moved to 1B (at age 31) and played there thru age 40. Hear me, Jeter?
Well, maybe that explains the miserable April Phil Hughes just got dragged thru:
An MRI and X-ray taken Thursday revealed a stress fracture of Hughes’ ninth rib on the right side, which will prohibit the 21-year-old right-hander from even picking up a baseball for at least the next four weeks.
“I’m disappointed,” Hughes said. “At least I have an answer to what was going on. I know it’s going to be at least a few weeks until I’m even throwing again, and that’s the most disappointing part.”
Of course, it’s not the whole reason, but if Hughes can rest his mind “thinking” that this was a primary reason, maybe he can come back strong in July. July? Yes, July. Ugh.
Of course, the lunkheads will cry to the heavens, skewering Cashman for not making the Santana deal. We KNEW these are just kids and it was certainly possible to experience the ugly growing pains. We didn’t think it’d be this bad, of course. But, it’s easy to say “See? You shoulda got Santana…” But the truth is, a $150M contact plus 40% for luxe tax is quite a hefty sum. And what if Santana was the one who blew out a rib while Hughes was having a good season in MIN? The same lunkheads would be crying “See? We shoulda kept the kids!“
I remain confident in Cashman’s ability to keep an eye on both the future and the present. (For now…as I watch Kennedy surrender an early lead.)
Feel free to second guess until you’re comfortable.
Reviewing the non-trade for Santana:
Buzzie Bavasi, the architect of Dem Bums and a key figure in the integration of MLB with Jackie Robinson, passed away at the age of 93 today.
As the long-time general manager for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers from 1951-68, his clubs won eight NL pennants and four World Championships in his 17 years at the helm. He built the Dodgers’ only World Championship team in Brooklyn (1955), building clubs that included Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Don Newcomb, Duke Snider, Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese and Roy Campanella. He then led the Dodgers to three World Championships following their move to Los Angeles (1959, ’63, ’65).Bavasi also played a key role in Jackie Robinson’s integration into Major League Baseball, the first African-American player to appear in the Major Leagues. Bavasi spent four years in the military during World War II, serving in the infantry as a machine gunner from 1943-46.
Some earnings to report/cover today (again), so nothing to post yet today, but I will try to get something out later this afternoon.
How ’bout that Clemens guy? I sorta figured more would come out but it’s sure ugly
