I think you overestimate the value Wang can net right now. he’s got some questionmarks both in terms of health and long term effectiveness. and he’s a arb player making money that’s getting close to what most non-top flight SPs make on the FA market anyway.

Wang’s simply more valuable to the Yankees than other teams.

As for the defense. Jeter’s UZR have been in the average range for over a year now. there is a chance that this change is for real. while Cano / Teix have both been good with the glove so far too. Alex is bad so far. but SSS and hip injury is quiet a obvious problem here. he’s generally been solid over the last few years at 3rd. (not counting this year, he’s right about average in the 5 seasons at 3rd in NY), while the OF have been well in the positive territory thanks to some awesome work by Gardner and Melky so far.

Certainly, Wang could be traded. but your way too optimistic in your assement both in terms of what he could bring back and also on the health and development of our other pitchers.

for one, AJ / Hughes / Joba is hardly the picture of health. while Pettitte’s back and age are serious concern as is CC’s work load. meanwhile. I like what I’m seeing form Zach Mcallister… which is almost exactly the same as Wang’s line . sure. Zach’s 3 years younger than Wang was at AA. but he’s also not getting a whole lot of GBs for a sinkerballer and his repetory and stats suggest that he won’t K a whole lot more than Wang in the majors either. everyone else is a gigantic questionmark. Chris Garcia’s IP totals over the last 4 years rivals that of Carl Pavano. Andrew Brackman’s control isn’t comming together even as a 24 year old in low A, neither’s Betances. and both have health issues too.

IPK isn’t instilling confidence. and Kontos is more likely a reliever than starter in the majors (if he was any good that is) that leaves the next best thing with a reasonable chance of not busting being… Wilkin De La Rosa, the man who has just coverted to a pitcher a year ago.

As for Melky, I think there’s a reasonable chance his improvements are for real. his slump conincided a good part with him bruising his shoulder. and more impressively he has hit 2 really long HR this year . in fact. he’s hit the Yankee’s second longest true distances HR according to hit tracker. which suggest that he’s really starting to improve his power a bit. and his approach has look good despite less results recently.

@29 – I think they need depth in the OF because they could lose three guys this offseason (possibly, though I can’t see much sense in resigning Damon unless it’s for a helluva deal), and currently Gardner isn’t likely much more than a fringey 4th OFer (though I’d be happy if he turned out to be good, I just don’t like banking on it when there are other holes), Melky is slowly regressing, Matsui can’t play D, and Nady may or may not still need surgery (he either loses the season before his FA or he plays half a season and if you’re banking on a contract, wouldn’t you risk foregoing surgery to put up some numbers?).

The pitching staff is loaded, the minors are loaded with arms while the OF is not as deep and this year’s FA OF crop is pretty lackluster. It’s just a move for next year. Meh whatever.

Go Yankees.

my other comment is waiting moderation hoss with links to several stories that talk about cmw going to pawtucket and being called back becuase of the line drive off joba (if you feel like it google chien ming wang pawtucket)

i don’t think they are cretins – just not above citique

I’d agree it might have been too hasty to bring him back if it was only the Joba-knee-hit thing. Not sure of facts. Tend to prefer to have them!

Main point, is that it is unlikely a proven vet is ruined forever by not getting his confidence back over 2-3 stamina-building starts. I HAVE to assume the pitching coach(es) are on this.

I’m aware that some here think the Yankee manager and general manager and all coaches are cretins without claim to merit, but …

Ah, Cashman must be burning up the phones then.

nice player, but hardly for whom the Yankees should be spending prospects.

What would that player look like, William? Nady?

Outside of Ajax and Montero, the Yankees have a whole lot of nothing for hitting prospects and whole bunch of holes coming up. I’d like to see some of the pitching depth and fringe OFers exchanged for some legit younger position players and/or high risk/reward bats.

It appears that Wang will get better and hopefully back to normal. Hard to tell for sure, but I think everything that’s happened thus far makes sense given his injury and how the Yankees handled his rehab. It doesn’t appear that the weaknesses of his performance were due to some other problem. So: They just have to suck it up and put up with two or three short starts; they’ve done it plenty with Hughes and Chamberlain, so it’s nothing new to the organization.

Assuming his recovery is full, they ought not to trade him, as they’ll need him next year when Pettitte is gone. Personally I think he’s good enough that they should keep him for the foreseeable future, infield be damned. Jeter can’t possibly play shortstop more than a couple more years anyway … can he?

But, bigger pictures … if Wang needs 2 (maybe 3) more starts to stretch himself out, if that is it, what’s the damned riush? Maybe Cash + med staff were too quick to bring him back, maybe they were somewhat respecting (belatedly) a twice 19 game winner. But we can surely live with a couple of shadowed starts to see if and how he stretches, no?

Why are we in a hurry to deal? We also have Nady sightings and word they will wait till he can play the field, which suggests they EXPECT him to do that. Voila, instantly deeper bench. And I’m okay with giving Bruney another couple of weeks too, to see what the story is there, for the 8th. Marte, as well, actually.

Time for the ol’ Hoss mantra: long season, Banterers.

(I do like DeRosa, mind you. Just not at much of a price.)

I would not trade CMW, he has a proven track record and I see signs he’s getting back there.

I don’t know about rehabbing his injury, but couldn’t he, over the winter, have done things such as stationary bike or swimming, things that weren’t going to put stress on the foot?

In other words, he is a corner outfielder who is an above average hitter, which makes him a nice player, but hardly for whom the Yankees should be spending prospects.

[18] Locke and Hernandez are not bad prospects. In fact, Keith Law had them both toward the end of his top-100 in all of baseball.

Why not …. the Pirates seem to love the low-K rate pitchers (Duke, Karstens, Ohlendorff, Maholm)

In any case, I very much doubt that the Pirates would have been interested in Wang, even if healthy.