Chien-Ming Wang’s hamstring injury, while not in the same category as Lawrence Taylor’s leg-breaking sack of Joe Theismann at RFK in 1985, is no less difficult for many baseball professionals to look at.
Dave Johnson, the MASN analyst and former Orioles pitcher, looks away whenever the video clip showing Wang’s fall across the first base bag against the Yankees on March?15 is replayed. Johnson tweaked his hamstring as a player in the early 1990s, and he says the discomfort has never really gone away. Watching Wang is painful, even from the perspective of time.
Wang’s stumble was decidedly nonathletic for a player who looks like he could pose for an Olympic statue. That’s the thing about it: it’s easy to imagine a player who’s not quite in shape doing something like that. Wang, on the other hand, is a remarkably fit and coordinated young man.
The initial diagnosis of a hamstring strain and “two weeks” of inactivity quickly turned into “several weeks” and now “a month or so.” Those who have seen the back of Wang’s thigh say the amount of blood present under the skin looks more severe than a simple strain. Time will tell on that front.
The one thing that can’t be said about Wang, however, is that he takes anything for granted. His work ethic is off the charts, particularly when you consider what he went through rehabbing his shoulder surgery. He’ll get through this, though precisely when he’ll return is impossible to predict.
Which brings us to John Lannan.
Lannan, the Long Island lefty whose Nats career — dating back to 2007 — makes him one of the senior guys on the club. His career ERA of 4.00 is all the more impressive when you consider the teams he’s pitched for. He’s made 128 big league starts and has one of the better groundball rates in the NL. He lost at arbitration this winter but still got a huge raise to $5 million a year, which is pretty much the going rate for pitchers with his resume.
When the Nats signed Edwin Jackson to a one-year, $11 million deal to be the fourth starter, the rumors began that Lannan would be wearing someone else’s uniform in 2012. Lannan had never pitched in relief in the big leagues, and fellow lefty Ross Detwiler was out of options and also had some bullpen experience.
Wang’s injury should mean that Lannan is back in the rotation — if only temporarily — though rumors persist that several clubs, including the Tigers and Red Sox, are interested. If he pitches like he pitched last year — a career-best 3.70 ERA — he may be around D.C. awhile. At the very least, he’ll bring some value as a trade commodity. The baseball world loves a grounder-inducing southpaw, and Lannan’s got that label down cold.
Examiner columnist Phil Wood is a baseball historian and contributor to MASN’s Nats Xtra. Contact him at [email protected].
