Monday, September 29, 2008

Yanks to leave Joba in starting rotation?

In what I assume will be the first of many of these posts over the off-season, it appears that the Yankees are leaning towards keeping Joba as a starter.

From Peter Abraham:
Joba Chamberlain finished the season having thrown only 100 1/3 innings because of a shoulder injury that caused him to miss a month. If the Yankees stick to their organizational beliefs, the 23-year-old right-hander will be limited to 140 innings next season.

Like many teams, the Yankees believe the research that shows young pitchers should have their workload increased gradually.
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But after two seasons of treating the 235-pound Chamberlain with great care, the Yankees might be ready to just let him pitch in 2009.

Chamberlain wants to start next season in the rotation, and Yankees manager Joe Girardi sounded inclined to grant that wish yesterday.

"Will the inning restrictions be there next year? Possibly," Girardi said. "But he's going to be a year stronger. He's got 100 innings, and part of that was rehabbing a little bit. It's something we'll discuss."
"There are a lot of different things where you can be creative," Girardi said. "If you have depth in your rotation, (Chamberlain doesn't) have to make 32 starts like everybody else. ... You skip a start here, those type of things."

Chamberlain was glad to hear that the team's thinking might be changing.

"I've told them what I want to do. I've talked to Joe about it," he said. "Obviously we want to do what's best for the team. I'm sure we will."
After seeing what he could do as a starter this season, I'm convinced that's where he needs to be. Next year the bullpen should be fine, it's the starting rotation that has me worried.

4 Comments:

Mike B. said...

Yes, and maybe at some point prior to the year 2020 there will no longer be any "inning restrictions" on Joba. Even with such restrictions, I'll betcha he gets hurt again....

By the way, I like him in the bullpen. But who listens to me anyway? (wink)

Mike

Anonymous said...

Joba should be in the rotation. Wand and Joba are the only sure bets to be in the rotation next April. Hopefully, Pettite and Moose will be back, and then we sign CC. The good news here is there will be no room for AJ Burnett unless Pettite or Moose does not come back.

Anonymous said...

If we could have Wang, Joba and CC that would be sick. 3 Aces all together,wow. Alaong with Mr 20 game winner, Mike Mussina, and Andy/ Phil, we would have a DOMINANT starting rotation. Bullpen is good, maybe add a piece or two, and make acouple of moves at first and possibly cf. We could have one hell of a squad next year.

Anonymous said...

I agree Dan, and it all comes down to them staying healthy. I think that all Hughes needs is time to get into a groove (staying healthy) and gain some confidence to be at the very least one of the better 4th/5th starters in baseball, and possibly a good #2.

With regard to Joba, he must be in the starting rotation, until it's determined that he either doesn't pitch well enough to be a starter (unlikely) or that he can't handle the season-long workload of 200 innings or more (possible). I don't think either will be an issue, but we'll have to wait and see. Until you find out though, you have to use him as a starter until it doesn't work out. If it doesn't work out, then you get him back into a relief role.