Shake up in Nats rotation on the way?

According to Washington Nationals manager Davey Johnson if all things go right this coming Sunday could be Chien-Ming Wang’s last minor league appearance in what has been a long road back to the majors for Wang.

Wang who last pitched in the majors on July 4th of 2009 appears to once again be healthy and has posted a 1.90 era over 5 minor league starts this season. Wang 31, was once a quality starter while with the Yankees posting a record of 55 wins and 16 losses with an era of 4.16 over 109 games from 2005 to 2009. Hist best years came in 2006 when he was 19 and 6 with a 3.63 era and 2007 when he was 19 and 7 with a 3.70 era for a combined era of 3.67 with 38 wins and a 1.30 whip.

If fully healthy Wang could become a positive addition to the Nationals rotation but the question is where will he fit in? The Nationals starting pitching for the most part has been solid all season long posting a combined 3.82 era in 98 games with the highest era for a starter being Gorzelanny’s 4.07 era (that is excluding Maya who is not in the majors anymore).

So it is not as if anyone has pitched their way out of the starting rotation yet which could mean a potential trade could be on the horizon. In my opinion if the Nationals do trade a current starter the most likely candidates would be Marquis or Gorzelanny who will both be free agents after this season.  If there is any truth to the rumors I’ve been hearing it will more than likely be Marquis who gets traded.

Either way with Zimmermann closing in on his inning count limit its nice to see help could be on the way for the Nats with Wang closing in on being ready to make his Nationals debut. Plus on top of that minor league pitchers Brad Peacock and Tom Milone are looking like potential candidates for being called up at some point this season.