MRI Confirms Wang Will Miss 10-12 Weeks

The Yankees' worst fears were confirmed this afternoon following an MRI on Chien-Ming Wang's right foot. He's been diagnosed with a sprained Lisfranc tendon and a partially torn peroneal longus tendon and will be confined to a walking cast for the next six weeks.

Once the cast is removed, he'll still need at least another month throwing bullpen sessions and making minor league rehab stats to regain his conditioning, which means that the earliest he's expected to return is September. Not surprisingly, Wang's teammates aren't optimistic about being able to replace him. From George King III of the New York Post:

"Nothing against (Alex Rodriguez) and (Jorge) Posada but when you lose a front-line starter, that's a big deal," [Mike] Mussina said Sunday. "There are seven other guys in the lineup. When you lose your No. 1 starter, that's very hard. He is the ace."

How will the Yankees replace him? Apparently from within, if you believe Brian Cashman. From Peter Abraham of the LoHud Yankees blog:

"There is no trade market at the moment," he said. "I'm not optimistic that something can get done on that front. We have to try and plug this gap internally and that's not going to be easy."

[...] "The higher up you go in the rotation, the more difficult it becomes," he said. "You can't just replace a pitcher like Chien-Ming Wang."

Even if the Yankees can't replace Wang's production, they need to replace his spot on the roster. Abraham reports that Dan Giese, a 31-year-old minor league journeyman, will get the starting nod on Saturday, adding that prospect Dan McCutchen, who has just five starts above Double-A, will not be rushed to the majors.

While Cashman isn't predicting a trade at the moment, it's hard to believe he won't at least explore going that route. Even if he doesn't shoot for the moon by attempting to pry C.C. Sabathia away from the Indians, there are still plenty of other guys who could be plugged into the back of the rotation. Was Watching nominates Derek Lowe, and it should be mentioned that Freddy Garcia and David Wells are both free agents.