In the fine tradition of Royals role players like (Nate) Adcock and (Elliot) Johnson, we expose (Chien-Ming) Wang.
The Taiwanese-born righty signed with the Royals on January 7th and, unsurprisingly, "spent last year with the Triple-A affiliates of the Braves and Mariners".
The last two seasons he stood erect on an MLB mound, 2012 and 2013, his ERA was an inflated 7.13. The sinkerballer was most known for his junk in recent years as his fastball had been a limp 88. But he came into spring training throwing 95(!) after working with Ron Wolforth, the man who helped Scott Kazmir regain velocity.
He began the season in the bullpen, and Yost would insert Wang into sloppy situations. On May 3rd, he was slid into a tight spot with the Royals trailing the Nationals 5-3. He held Washington scoreless and the Royals rallied for 3 in the bottom of the 9th off of Papelbon. It was his first of 6(!) pitcher wins on the year, leading many around here to call him the "win vulture".
Wang was stretched out, often pitching in middle relief during games when the Royals would come from behind. If a game went longer than four hours, he was just what the doctor ordered. Taking the pill in those situations, he racked up a quartet of extra inning wins against Atlanta (5/15), Detroit (6/19), St. Louis (6/29), and Minnesota (8/19).
Wang started shooting blanks on May 15th, putting together a streak of 8 straight games without allowing an earned run. In early June, his ERA stood at 2.08 with no home runs allowed. Unfortunately, he began to peter out as the season lengthened. Chien-Ming allowed 3 Orioles to hang dong against him on June 7th, including back-to-back home runs on two balls. His ERA the rest of the way was 5.68.
Once rosters engorged in September, Pounders got in on the action and Chien-Ming found his innings blocked. His last game for Kansas City was on August 30th, when he threw a pair of scoreless innings again his former employer, the Yankees. He was placed on the DL the next day and designated for assignment on September 17th.
We salute you and you deserve better than this.