Chien-Ming Wang is a man without a role. After an indescribably bad start to the season, the Yanks placed Wang on the disabled list so he could continue his physical rehabilitation while pitching in live games without hurting the big league club. He seemed to be on the road back at this time last week, with perhaps his last AAA start coming last Friday. But then Joba Chamberlain got hit in the knee and plans changed. They burned long man Al Aceves by using him for 3.1 innings in relief of Chamberlain after he pitched two innings the previous day. Jon Albaladejo pitched an ineffective 2.1 innings, which not only made him unavailable for Friday, but made him a prime candidate for demotion, thereby opening up a slot for someone who could handle multiple innings.

The Yanks did get Wang into the game on Friday night after A.J. Burnett surrendered five runs in six innings. Wang didn’t look sharp, as he allowed two runs in three innings and had some trouble keeping his sinker down. Control was also somewhat of an issue, as Wang threw just 57 percent of his pitches for strikes. Worst of all, he allowed as many fly balls as ground balls, a sure sign that Wang wasn’t himself. The Yankees seemed to understand that and chose to not use Wang in relief of Joba Chamberlain last night, instead opting for their normal long man, Aceves.

Did the Yankees make a mistake by activating Wang while he still had plenty of time left on his rehab clock? Given the quotes PeteAbe got from Dave Eiland, it would seem so. The pitching coach notes that “it’s hard to get him a lot of innings” right now. This is because 1) there is currently no opening for him in the rotation, given Phil Hughes’s stellar outing on Monday, and 2) because in close games the Yankees don’t want to risk handing the ball to Wang, who has yet to prove he can regain his old form. While getting Wang innings is important, winning games is even more so. If Phil Hughes were pitching like Wang, they could send him to AAA to get his innings. Not so with Wang, who is out of options. This leaves both him and the Yankees in a tough place, since Wang cannot improve without regular work.

Eiland then discusses another issue affecting Wang’s progress:

“You can’t do too much stuff on the side because you might need him in the game. It’s a tough spot but we’re working at it. If we go out and let him throw 35 pitches in the afternoon, he could only go one inning that night.”

This might even be counterproductive, since a bullpen session is vastly different than game action. While Wang would benefit from even one inning out of the pen, he would benefit even more from throwing all 50 of those pitches (presuming 15 per inning) in a live game, rather than throwing the first 35 on the side. But if he doesn’t throw those pitches on the side and then isn’t used in the game, he suffers that much more.

The Yanks will have to get Chien-Ming Wang into games, and regularly at that, if they want him to recover and again become the No. 2 starter he’s been for the past three years. If this is, as both the Yanks and Wang attest, a mechanical issue, then that’s something they can surely work on in the side. It would be nice if he could work out the issue in live game situations with Scranton, since that wouldn’t harm the big league club. But the Yankees made their decision, and now they’ll have to live with it.

What can the Yankees do to dig themselves out of the hole they created by activating Wang? Hopefully it involves more than just waiting out the situation. While patience is the best path in many situations, this does not appear to be one of them. Patience means Wang stays on the shelf while remaining on the active roster. It means him whittling away in the bullpen while he could have been getting live action in the minors. The Yanks will have to do a little more — something, anything in order to get Wang regular work while not harming the big league club. As my parents used to tell me: you made your bed, now lie in it.

When Chien-Ming Wang made his first AAA start on May 12, he started his rehab clock. From that point on, the Yankees had 30 days in which they could do whatever they wanted with Wang. The team could have chosen for him to pitch at AAA or A, for Tampa at the Yanks’ complex or for Scranton who needs bodies to start right now. They could have taken until June 11 to have work on his woefully bad mechanics, his inconsistent release point and his lower body and arm strength.

Instead, as soon as one of their pitchers who probably won’t even miss a start got hurt, they panicked. Following a 0.2 inning outing by Joba Chamberlain cut short due to a line drive to the upper shin and an 8.1 inning bullpen effort, the Yanks activated Wang from the disabled list and stuck him into some hybrid long relief/mop-up man role. Instead of recalling David Robertson or Mark Melancon, instead of simply waiting it out until it became clear that Joba wouldn’t be able to start on Tuesday, the Yanks hit the panic switch.

Last night, they started paying the cost of this poor move. By the time Wang entered the game in the 7th inning, the Yanks were nearing their first loss in nine games. They were down 5-1, and Wang promptly made sure that deficit grew. By the time Matt Stairs lined out to Robinson Cano to end the Phillies’ half of the 8th, Wang had lowered his ERA from 34.50 to an even 25.00, but to focus on the 9.50-run decrease would be to ignore the reality of Wang’s situation.

That reality is simply that the Yanks have left themselves up the proverbial creek without a paddle. When his night was over, Wang’s line wasn’t pretty. In three innings of work, he allowed seven baserunners and two earned runs. He surrendered a stunningly crushed home run to Raul Ibañez and seemed to be throwing with little ability to control where the ball went. Sometimes, the sinker would sink; sometimes, the slider would slide; other times, nothing would happen.

On the night, Wang’s 6.00 ERA and his 2.33 WHIP were vast improvements over his season numbers, but where do the Yankees go from here? Wang certainly hasn’t done anything to unseat Phil Hughes from the rotation. While Hughes has battled inconsistency and ineffectiveness, he’ll give the Yanks five or six innings of seemingly average-to-above average pitching. Wang can’t even do that right now.

The Yanks can’t really use Wang as a reliever in a tight spot out of the pen either. Would you trust him in a close game? So the Yanks had a glorified mop-up man on their hands.

Meanwhile, they haven’t really fixed what I think was the problem. In two previous posts here and here, Mike and I examined Wang’s pitch f/x results and determined that his release point was both off and completely inconsistent. Dan Novick, a long-time RAB reader and writer at Statistically Speaking, examined Wang’s relief outing. While Wang’s velocity was up, Novick determined that the Yanks haven’t fixed the release point issue.

Basically, then, as a panic move, they deactivated Wang nearly three weeks before they had to. He wasn’t ready to pitch in the Majors, and the team isn’t really ready to make any sort of use out of him. The Yanks don’t really have choices here. They can’t send him down, and unless they “find” another injury, he’ll have to work out these issues while pitching out of a mop-up spot in the pen. He’s also taking up a valuable roster spot with Brian Bruney’s status seemingly up in the air.

Over the last few years, the Yankees have generally done a good job of balancing their roster and making use of their open spots on both the 25- and 40-man. This move though defies baseball logic, and Brian Cashman, Joe Girardi and Dave Eiland will now have to fix Chien-Ming Wang without the luxury of a rehab clock. Joba got a bruise; the Yanks panicked; and now they’ll pay the price with this Wang-related headache.