SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — On the first day of baseball's general managers meetings, the Braves signed veteran starter Chien-Ming Wang, a former Cy Young Award runner-up, and left-handed reliever Donnie Veal to minor league contracts that came with invitations to major league spring training.
Braves president of baseball operations John Hart said the team will continue to be aggressive signing six-year minor league free agents and others to added needed depth to the upper levels of the minor league system. Wang and Veal both could also compete for jobs at the major league level.
Wang, who’ll be 35 in March, hasn’t started more than six games in the majors since 2011 and spent last season with Reds and White Sox Triple-A affiliates, compiling a 13-8 record and 4.12 ERA in 28 starts, with 73 strikeouts and 57 walks in 172 2/3 innings. That innings total is as big a reason as any for the interest from the Braves.
The Taiwanese right-hander last pitched in the majors for Toronto in 2013, going 1-2 with a 7.67 ERA in six starts. He had a 6.68 ERA in 10 games (five starts) for the Nationals in 2012.
Veal, 30, spent most of last season with the White Sox Triple-A affiliate, after making 50 appearances with Chicago in 2013. The Jackson, Miss., native has a 4.87 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 64 2/3 innings over 100 career appearances in four major league seasons with the Pirates and White Sox, and a .205 opponents’ average vs. left-handed batters.
Wang signed with the Yankees as an amateur free agent in 2000, made his major league debut in 2005, and went 19-6 with a 3.63 ERA in 218 innings in his first full season in 2006 despite totaling just 76 strikeouts. He matched that win total again in 2007, going 19-7 with a 3.70 ERA in 199 1/3 innings.
His career was derailed by a serious foot injury sustained while running the bases in an interleague game at Houston in June 2008. After going 38-13 with a 3.67 ERA during 2006-2007, Wang is 16-16 with a 5.67 ERA in 54 games (46 starts) in the majors since the beginning of the 2008 season.
