Checking In With Chien-Ming Wang - 棒球

Checking In With Chien-Ming Wang
By TYLER KEPNER

VIERA, Fla. — The big news for the Washington Nationals today is that
Stephen Strasburg has been sent to minor league camp, as the team had
planned all along.

Strasburg, the No. 1 overall draft pick last June, will begin his
professional career at Class AA Harrisburg after three overpowering
exhibition performances: 9 innings, 8 hits, 2 runs, 1 walks, 12 strikeouts.
As Mark Zuckerman noted, he got 13 groundouts, 1 popout and no flyouts, and
threw 97 of his 149 pitches for strikes.

Strasburg’s locker in the major league clubhouse here was empty after
batting practice, but one of his teammates gave this succinct scouting
report.

“Fast,” the teammate said, laughing. “Big curveball.”

Those words are courtesy of Chien-Ming Wang, the former Yankees ace who is
recovering from shoulder surgery with the Nationals. Wang said he had thrown
three bullpen sessions, the most recent lasting 45 pitches at about 50
percent effort.

He said that his shoulder was gradually gaining strength and that his next
bullpen session would be at 75 percent effort. He hopes to be throwing at
full strength by mid-April and to join the Nationals sometime after that.
In the best case, Wang, who turns 30 this month, will still have the
95-mile-an-hour sinker that made him so effective for the Yankees.

“See how I feel,” Wang said. “The team is looking for May. I hope the
velocity comes back. When I throw now, the ball’s still sinking.”

Wang was a 19-game winner for the Yankees in 2006 and 2007, and their No. 1
starter in the playoffs those seasons. His Yankees career is a reminder of
how fragile athletic success can be: with one awkward step around third base
in Houston on June 15, 2008, Wang tore a tendon in his right foot, and the
resulting time off eventually led to a torn shoulder capsule that was
surgically repaired last July 29.

“I try not to think about it — start over again,” Wang said. “Now I run,
no problem. But my body did not get stronger. It put a lot of pressure on my
shoulder.”

The Yankees were in a tough spot with Wang. Because he was eligible for
salary arbitration and had made $5 million in 2009, they could not have
submitted a contract offer for less than $4 million. By not tendering him
a contract, the Yankees saved the $4 million and Wang became a free agent.

He signed with the Nationals for $2 million, and $3 million in potential
bonuses. The Nationals retain his rights through 2011, and they have spoken
hopefully of a rotation that will one day include Strasburg, Wang,
Jason Marquis, Jordan Zimmermann and John Lannan.

Wang had been with the Yankees since signing out of Taiwan in 2000. He said
it was nice to have a few former teammates here, including Tyler Clippard,
Ivan Rodriguez and Brian Bruney — or as Wang called him, Crazy Bruney.

Wang said he still keeps in touch with some Yankees, trading text messages
with A. J. Burnett, Joba Chamberlain and the trainer Steve Donahue. Wang was
in uniform for the postseason last fall and is prominent in some photos of
the on-field celebration after the World Series. But not participating was
painful.

“It’s hard for me to feel like part of the team, only sitting and watching
the game,” he said.

Wang has kept his home in New Jersey, where he stayed in November before
returning to Taiwan for a month, then heading to Arizona for shoulder
rehabilitation. His struggles last season (1-6, 9.64 earned run average) have
apparently not diminished his celebrity back home.

“He’s still a national hero,” said Yu Chia Cheng, who is covering Wang for
The Liberty Times, a newspaper in Taiwan. Cheng said Yankees fans had become
Nationals fans.

There was one place, though, where Wang was not as popular as he used to be.
His extended family was much more interested in his son, Justin Jesse, born
last June 16.

“They didn’t want to see me,” Wang said, smiling again. “Only baby.”

http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/20/checking-in-with-chien-ming-wang/

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