Chien-Ming Wang
Age: 26 Years Old (Turns 27 March 31st).

Two-Year History, two-year splits and last year's splits.

SEASON Team W L ERA G GS CG IP H R ER HR BB SO
2005 Yankees 8 5 4.02 18 17 0 116.1 113 58 52 9 32 47
2006 Yankees 19 6 3.63 34 33 2 218.0 233 92 88 12 52 76
2007 Bill James 14 10 3.91 32 32   214.0 237     15 53 102
2007 CHONE     4.10       182.0 207 90 83 15 45 74
2007 Marcel 14 7 3.97       179.0 187 83 79 14 49 81
2007 ZiPS 12 9 4.28 29 28   183.0 202 95 87 16 48 79

SEASON Team K/9 BB/9 K/BB HR/9 AVG WHIP BABIP LOB% FIP
2005 Yankees 3.64 2.48 1.47 0.70 .256 1.25 .270 67.2 % 4.38
2006 Yankees 3.14 2.15 1.46 0.50 .275 1.31 .291 72.2 % 3.96
2007 Bill James 4.29 2.23 1.92 0.63 .282 1.36 .307   3.97
2007 CHONE 3.66 2.23 1.64 0.74 .287 1.38 .304 70.8 % 4.28
2007 Marcel 4.07 2.46 1.65 0.70 .270 1.32 .290 71.2 % 4.20
2007 ZiPS 3.89 2.36 1.65 0.79 .281 1.37 .299 68.1 % 4.26

Outlook: Chien-Ming Wang is an enimga. To some, he's an overachiever who will fall back to earth soon, a pure statistical anomaly. To others, he's a star in the making. However, to Yankees' fans (and the people of Taiwan), it doesn't matter - he's a fan favorite. He is home-grown, throws strikes and goes deep into games while going about his business like a stand-up guy.

After a first year where he helped to solidify an unstable and fragile Yankees' rotation, there were a lot of questions raised over what Obi-Wang could realistically provide the Yankees. First and foremost, there were durability concerns. 218 innings last year, 5th in the AL, answered that one. Success with such a low K rate? Last year, he was the AL's 2nd best pitcher (coming in second in AL Cy Young race) with an even lower K rate. Was he just lucky? His BABIP last year was .21 points higher than 05 and he still had success. On top of that, he showed better walk numbers and a lower HR rate.

Is this sustainable? The biased Yankee part of me says yes and you know what, the value analyst in me agrees. I get it, he has a great power sinker with no real great secondary pitches..but people tend to forget that Neil Allen only taught Wang the sinker before the 2005 season at AAA Columbus. Amazingly enough, Wang is still learning to use the pitch! Second, a true sinker-baller is only as good as the defense behind him and the Yankee defense should be better for him this whole season. Finally, Chien-Ming is now more than a full year removed from shoulder problems and any restrictions placed on him last year are fully off. All those should combine for an interesting season from the defacto ace of the Yankees.

Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:

G GS Innings W L BB K ERA