Roughly two months ago, the Yankees came to the conclusion that starter Chien-Ming Wang wasn’t worth the roster space anymore, even though they controlled his rights for the next two seasons. That’s why they non-tendered him on December 12 and made him a free agent this offseason.

It’s hard to blame the Bombers to coming to the decision not to tender Wang after he battled through ineffectiveness and injury in 2009. He was a disaster last season, finishing with a 1-6 record and a 9.64 ERA.

But in wake of the Nationals signing the right-hander to a contract on Tuesday, I wonder whether or not the Yankees will regret the decision to let Wang go after the ’09 season. After all, he’s only 29 and just a few years removed from posting back-to-back 19-win seasons.

Before signing CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett last offseson, the Yankees’ crutch was their pitching. Wang was outstanding for them in 2006 and 2007 and given how bad he was last year, he would have come cheap this season. Wouldn’t it have been worth it for the Yankees to see his rehab all the way through (he’s not scheduled to start until May at the earliest) and stick him at the end of the rotation or in the bullpen? I realize the Yankees have younger, healthy options for their fifth starter, but if Wang does rebound then he could have been useful to them at the end of the rotation.

Of course, we don’t know the full story. There’s a possibility that the Yankees are fully aware that Wang will never rebound and thus, it was an easy decision to cut him loose. Plus, they can buy whomever they want so at the end of the day, even if Wang does pitch well next year the Yankees won’t feel the affects of making a bad decision like most teams do.

Only time will tell if the decision to let Wang walk was a good idea when he still had two more years left of arbitration. But if the back end of the Yankees’ rotation struggles next year and Wang is performing well in Washington, it’ll be interesting to see if someone doesn’t point out that the Bombers had a solution on their roster and they let him go.

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