The plan announced by Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is to start the 2008 season with Joba Chamberlain in the bullpen. That should be good news to the team’s fans. The long-range plan for the season is to move the sensational young pitcher into the starting rotation. That news might not be nearly as good.It’s a tough call the Yankees have, one that I wouldn’t like to make. Chamberlain, Philip Hughes and Ian Kennedy are the kids whom the Yankees have groomed to form the core of the team’s rotation for the next decade or longer. And there’s no question New York needs the lift that strong, young arms can give a starting rotation.
The plan all along had been to use the 22-year-old Chamberlain as a starter, the role in which he excelled as a minor leaguer. But last year he proved to be an exceptional reliever, and in this era of ball, there’s no one more important to a team than a great closer.
I've said for a while now that starting Joba in the pen, and then moving him into the rotation is a bad idea. If the Yankees insist on starting him in the pen, they might as well just leave him there for the whole year. After all, he's still young and he can become a starter for the 2009 season.
I wrote this a month ago: Let's say he's in the pen until mid-July, and then the Yankees decide it's time to make his a starter, and he immediately struggles. Do you then move him back into the bullpen, or do you give him time to feel his way through the early struggles, and work out the kinks during a very crucial part of the season, when every game is important? This is not a problem the Yankees want to have when they are in a pennant race.
Another problem the Yankees will face is that around the time everyone in the pen has adjusted to their roles, the Yankees are going to shake things up. They will also go from a very reliable bridge to Mariano, to a bunch of question marks. Even if Farnsworth, Hawkins, and the rest of the Yankees pen are successful in the middle innings, they could still turn into choke-artists in the pressure-packed 8th. Anyone who watched the Yankees last season saw how good Farnsworth was when he didn't have the pressure of being the setup man.
Like I've said all along I think Joba should start the year in the starting rotation, and then be moved into the bullpen - making the bullpen stronger for the stretch run, and keeping his innings down. He already did it last year, and he seemed to handle it just fine. To replace him in the rotation the Yankees could probably make a trade for a starter around the trade deadline, which would probably be right around the same time Joba would be moved into the pen. This is the best way for the Yankees to handle Joba in 2008.
UPDATE 5:57 PM - OK, apparently it's not official, and Cashman still isn't sure where Joba will be to start the year. Way to go MSNBC. I should have known not to trust them when it comes to sports.
Peter Abraham, who is definitely closer to the situation than MSNBC, just posted on his blog that Cashman said no decision has been made yet about where Joba will start the season. It will depend on how Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy look in spring training.
Bryan Hoch of MLB.com has also reported that Brian Cashman said "all I've continued to say this winter is that he's a starter, we look at him as a starter and we're going to prepare him as a starter this spring."
2 Comments:
The problem with leaving Joba in the pen all season is it doesn't actually address anything at all, it just kind of says "Eh, you know what, we'll just close our eyes, pretend nothing happens for a year, and try again in 2009". Because the idea behind Joba being in the bullpen at all is that he has an innings cap. If he doesn't come anywhere close to it (which he won't if he's in the bullpen all year), then his inning cap isn't going to go up next year, and the Yanks will have the exact same problem again.
You're right, that's another reason why I want to see him start in the rotation and then go to the pen.
But if the team decides to start him in the pen it will be best for the 2008 Yankees if he stays there, that was my only point.
This doesn't help the Yankees past this season for the reason you mentioned, and it doesn't help Joba.
Post a Comment