Nationals, Chien-Ming Wang Agree To Deal

The Washington Nationals and Chien-Ming Wang have agreed in principle on a 1-year deal to bring back the Taiwanese starting pitcher for 2012, reports Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated.

Wang, 31, made a return to the majors in 2011 after missing more than a year recovering from shoulder surgery. He posted a 4.04 ERA across 62 1/3 innings of work, though it was only 11 starts. In those 11 starts Wang showed him and his sinker still get along nicely, generating groundballs 53.4% of the time (career 59.5 GB%).

He also showed his fastball/sinker lost more than a tick while he recovered from surgery, but is that a cause of concern? Wang's 3.61 K/9 in 2011 was the lowest rate among starting pitchers with at least 60 innings thrown. As a pitcher who never looked at the radar gun, Wang should be fine if he can continues to have command of the strike zone (1.88 BB/9 in 2011).