Six Teams Express Interest in Chien-Ming Wang

The first of Chien-Ming Wang’s opt-out dates has come and gone with him remaining a Yankee. (Image Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports)

Chien-Ming Wang’s minor league contract with the New York Yankees contains multiple opt-out dates, one of which passed yesterday, freeing the right-hander to leave the Yankees organization to join another if he so chooses. Wang has repeatedly stated that he likely will not exercise these clauses unless another team is willing to offer him a Major League contract. According to Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe, as many as six teams expressed interest in the Taiwan native but none were willing to offer more than a minor league deal.

Wang elected to remain with the Yankees and will continue to pitch at Triple-A Scranton. His contract contains three more opt-out dates: June 30th, August 10th, August 31st.

While Cafardo states that six teams expressed an interest in signing Wang, only the Baltimore Orioles have been publicly (by Dan Connolly of The Baltimore Sun) named as a potential suitor. The team claimed that it was “just giving it their due diligence” and there was never much serious interest on their part.

The 33 year old Wang is 3-4 with a 2.65 ERA and 1.176 WHIP in 50.1 IP across 8 starts on the year. Injuries have derailed a once promising career and Wang has spent most of the past two seasons in the minor leagues. While the Yankees have utilized a number of pitchers on their active roster already this season, they haven’t appeared close to calling up Wang just yet.