The Influence of Wang

I was reading about Chien-Ming Wang's arbitration case. One of the arguements his agents used was a Time Magazine article that came out last May. It was their article on the World's 100 most influential people. The list did not include George W. Bush, but did includ Chien-Ming Wang. Evidently people in Taiwaan are so wrapped up in Wang, that thier stock market goes up when he wins.

However, all of that influence was enough to incluence the arbitrators in his hearing. He'll have to settle for $4 million.

I agree with the Yankee decision to not give him a long-term deal like he wanted. As a Super-2 he got to arbitration already, but being a Super-2 just gets you there faster, not free agency. He has 4 arbitration years instead of 3. So he's locked up through 2011 right now anyway. If you have a pitcher locked up for 4 seasons, and we know how often pitchers get hurt, I don't think you can negotiate. It just doesn't make sense from a team perspective.

There's talk about starting Chamberlain in the bullpen, then sending him down to the minors to stretch out his arm, and bring him back as a starter, which would help keep him under the 140 innings they want from him during the regular season. I'm wondering how long he would have to be down to lose the service time and be locked into the Yankee organization for another season.