New York Yankees: Chien-Ming Wang Forgotten in a Sea of Quality Pitching

Even before the end of the regular season, all the talk has been that the New York Yankees must sign several starting pitchers for the upcoming '09 season.

They just inked C.C. Sabathia to a long term deal. He will, of course be the No. 1 starter for the team.

Joba Chamberlain's role has been debated endlessly. But he has made it clear that he wants to start and the New York brain trust has said that he will definitely be a starter, and starter only, in '09.

Chamberlain has the stuff to be a No. 1 on almost any staff.  The Yankees will be concerned about limiting his number of innings in his first season as a full time starter.  But he will definitely add great strength to this rotation.

Phil Hughes has been projected for the past three years as an eventual star in New York and to have the goods to be a No. 1 or No. 1 starter in the rotation.

Hughes showed great promise in 2007 until a hamstring injury, followed by a bad ankle sprain, side-lined him for most of the year.

Hughes started out '08 looking abysmal, and fans heard everything from bad eyesight to bad arm slot.  It turned out that somehow he had fractured a rib that was limiting him.

Pitching in the Arizona Fall League, Hughes seemed to be very good at times and impressed most who watched him. 

He is expected to return to the Yankee rotation and will no longer need to fill a spot at the top of the rotation with Sabathia and Chamberlain both ready to go.

But the forgotten man in all this is Chien-Ming Wang. Wang went down with a freak injury running the bases in an inter-league game in Houston and missed more than half the season.

Prior to this injury, Wang had won more games since 2005 than any other pitcher in the big leagues.

That is a statistic that is often forgotten or overlooked.

Wang came to the Yankees midway through the 2005 season.  In 2006 he was 19-6.  In 2007 he was 19-7.  Last year he was 8-2 before the injury that kept him out the rest of the year.

Throwing a sinker, Wang does not appear to be overpowering as Sabathia and Chamberlain are perceived.  But he often pitches in the low to mid 90s.

He works long into almost every game, is very consistent and always keeps his team in the game. 

He seems to remain calm in the hottest competition and in the fishbowl that is New York Yankee baseball.

The only downside with Wang is that he has not pitched well in the post season during his first three seasons with the Yankees. But he is still very young and has been durable.

The injury to his foot should not affect his pitching in the future, and he should be expected to fill a spot as the third starter for New York.  He will give the Yankees the best No. 3 starter in the game.

With Sabathia, Chamberlain, Wang and Hughes some fans may wonder why there is still so much talk about going after A.J. Burnett, Derek Lowe, Ben Sheets and trying to re-sign Andy Pettitte. 

Wang is seldom mentioned and seldom appreciated.  But he has been the most consistent and the best pitcher the Yankees have had in the past five years and there is no reason to doubt he will return to that form.