Joba seems to understand he's struggling although at times he seems to be pretty clueless about his own performances. Following last night's embarrassing start in Anaheim he said “It’s frustrating. I’m letting my teammates down. It’s kind of embarrassing, too,” he said. “At the end of the day, we have the second half (of the season) to get better. You can’t change the past.”
But still, he'll come up with a quote like this and leave you scratching your head: "The last two starts is the best my stuff has been all year, which makes it even more frustrating," he said.
He best stuff? I find that hard to believe. Two starts ago he didn't even have his breaking stuff working. Over those two starts he's thrown 8 innings, allowing 13 runs - 7 earned - on 18 hits, walked 2 struck out 5, and allowed 3 home runs.
In seven games since his great eight inning performance in Cleveland back on June 1st, Joba has thrown 35.2 innings and allowed 27 runs - 20 earned - on 47 hits, walked 15, struck out 27, and servedd up 5 long balls. That's good for an ERA of 5.09 over seven starts.
Here's some more disturbing trends from Joba's starts this season (stats via NoMaas.org - do not include yesterday):
Pitches thrown in the strike zone: 44.2% (50.5% - 2008)Not exactly the direction you want to see your 23-year-old future ace trending towards.
First pitch strikes: 56.1% (60.2% - 2008)
Hitters' contact %: 80.1% (73.5% - 2008)
Hitters swing %: 38.6% (43.6% - 2008)
Hitters' contact % when swinging outside strike zone: 60% (46.8% - 2008)
Hitters' contact % when swinging inside strike zone: 91.4% (84.9% - 2008)
Line drive %: 20.5% (14.2% - 2008)
I'm convinced last year's shoulder tendinitis has left some ugly side effects. Whether it's that he's afraid to throw at 100% or just doesn't have the same stuff, or the problem is something else is a mystery to me, but what I do know is that he's been nowhere near the same pitcher he was prior to the injury.
So I post that question to you, what's the deal with Joba?
12 Comments:
the deal is that he belongs in the bullpen, but everyone is too stupid to realize that. he's not a starter, as much as he forces himself to pitch like one. when you have to force, it means your really not ready to be what u wanna be. he's a bullpen guy. when are the yankees gonna see that? and watch, when they do realize that, something will happen, and it'll be too late to fix the situation. put him back in the pen now. that's where he belongs, and that's where he needs to be. for the yankees to really be successful, he needs to be in the pen. especially since bruney is struggling badly. but that's just me though!
But then we have to think about who is going to replace him. We don't really have much choices in the minor that is atleast 75% major league ready. Why do i say this. Well I've been thinking after last nights game I was woundering what people think about getting Roy Hollady. I know that what im gonna say is crazy but what about trading Hughes, and maybe keep Cervelli and throw Molina in there too. Its just a thought let me know what you think.
Why the hell would Toronto take Molina? Come on...
Joba fastball velocity was good yesterday. According to MLB Gameday the pitch he struck out Figgins in the first was 97mph. He his fastball was hitting 94,95. He made that one bad pitch to Morales and that cost him the game. Until that point he was pitching pretty well. The YES gun is inaccurate.
The allstar break comes at a good time hoepfully Joba can regroup and have a strong second half.
Joba Chamberlain is a 5 inning pitcher. The bullpen has to cover for him almost every time he starts. Some pitchers are meant to be starters and some are meant to be relievers. You do have the occasional rarity like Eckersley and Smoltz, but the Yanks need to realize this and put him back in the pen. They did the same thing with Mo back in '95 and I might be wrong, but I think that worked out pretty well in the end. Which would be better- a so-so starter or a dominating reliever? I look at it like this: so-so starters are not hard to find, bring one in and use them to get you through 5 innings. Hand the ball over to a bullpen with Joba and your chance of winning is better than the current situation.
Which would be better? Having an ace, which is what Joba can be.
Matt...obviously Toronto would take Molina because it's what other teams are looking for when we trade with them... our crap.
I think they should continue putting Joba out there. Yes, he is killing the bullpen right now, but most young pitchers go through this. To expect lights-out performances similar to when he was a set-up guy is unrealistic. He can definitely pitch better, but last night I thought I saw some better things - fewer pitches, faster pace, more velocity - than the start before. He was let down by his defense - both errors were followed by 3-run shots. A more mature pitcher would have at least pitched out of one of those jams...
Joba won't be pitching postseason games this year (assuming they make it!), but I have faith he has a strong second half and will be better. If he can finish the year pitching 6 innings consistently, I'd take that.
The only thing I can think of is lack of someone in the organization who can actually help young pitchers work out of things like this. If you notice it's really only the veteran pitchers(who can self coach at this point) who have righted themselves. Hughes instantly became consistent when he went to the bull pen, but everyone knows Mariano helps the young guys in the pen to sort their stuff out and mentors them. I think this points to an ineffective starting pitching coach. Dave Eiland has to start really being looked at because it does not look like he knows what he's doing.
Isn't Leo Mazzone available? I wonder what he could do with the Yankee rotation.
How about David Cone?
They need to switch Jaba with Hughes. When Jaba was in the bullpen, he looked like Papelbon, as a starter he’s been mediocre. Jaba can be just as successful in the bullpen as Hughes, where I truly believe that Hughes can be more successful as a starter than Jaba’s been. I’m not at all suggesting that Hughes will be the best starter, but he was starting to show some success when they yanked him out of the rotation and put him in the bullpen.
The only reasonable explanation IMO for his total lose of velocity is PED's. This kid was living at 97/98 and touching 100mph when he first came up. It tapered off last year and now it's all gone. His fastball was actually clocking an embarressing 88mph his last start. I also think mentally he has serious issues plus maturity problems. If I was Cashman I would dump him for any solid starter out there that could help the team. Joba will be a bust mark my words.
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