The first individual pitcher he talks about is Yankees starter Joba Chamberlain:No matter where they stand on the topic, big league teams are more mindful than ever of pitchers' workloads. That's especially true of young pitchers, who need to be monitored extra closely during high-stakes games in September.
"Guys come through the minors where the finish line is September 1, and that extra month is an absolute grind," said Texas pitching coach Mike Maddux. "A lot of the young guys are accelerated to the big leagues because they've had success, and sometimes they don't have the buildup of minor league innings that you'd like to see."
Among baseball people, it's a given that major league innings are more stressful than minor league innings, and pennant-race innings are the most taxing of all.
"It's not just the innings. It's the intensity of the innings," said Colorado general manager Dan O'Dowd. "You have to monitor the quality of a pitcher's stuff and take a close look at his delivery. You rely so much on your medical people -- specifically your trainers. They have a real good feel when guys are starting to fatigue.
Joba Chamberlain, Yankees (8-5, 4.45 ERA)He also discusses pitchers Rick Porcello, Clayton Kershaw, Clay Buchholz, Derek Holland, Josh Johnson, J.A. Happ, Jason Hammel, and Tommy Hanson.The workload: Chamberlain has thrown 139 2/3 innings in 27 starts, compared to 100 1/3 innings between the bullpen and the rotation a year ago.
He's become the poster boy for baseball's efforts to protect young arms. Just for fun, we plugged the words "Joba Rules" into a Nexis search, and it came back with 557 newspaper mentions since August 2007. The words go together like "knuckleballer Tim Wakefield" or "Steve Blass Disease."
The Yankees' attempts to safeguard Chamberlain's future are understandable, but right now he doesn't know if he's coming or going. Chamberlain looked rusty when forced to wait too long between starts. And now that he's in the midst of a carefully devised plan to build up innings in September, he appears tentative and unfocused.
Chamberlain threw lots of straight, 91-92 mph fastballs against Tampa Bay on Wednesday before finding the strike zone and cutting loose. But that 31-pitch first inning was a sure-fire bullpen-taxer.
Although the Yankees remain committed to starting Chamberlain, it's become apparent that he's temperamentally better suited to the bullpen, in a Jonathan Papelbon-Brett Myers sort of way.
"He just runs so much on emotion," said an AL executive. "That's his personality. He can't help it."
The Yankees would like to extend Chamberlain to six innings by the end of the regular season so he can slide in behind CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte in the postseason rotation. But after three straight three-inning starts, Joba isn't quite in sync with the plan.
Whether you like it or not this debate about pitcher's arms and the right way to handle those arms will rage on for years to come. While I agree that the Yankees should protect Joba, I've always wonder if this whole baseball-wide idea is based more on fear than reality. Only time will tell.
4 Comments:
"Although the Yankees remain committed to starting Chamberlain, it's become apparent that he's temperamentally better suited to the bullpen "
Dumbest thing I read. A week ago everyone was writing that Phil Hughes laid back nothing bothers me personality is perfect for the bullpen because it is like Mariano's. So which personality is better for the bullpen? Both Hughes and Chamberlain to me are starter. I dont why people want the yankees to take there top 2 young starting pitching prospects and keep them in the bullpen.
Burnett, Zambrano and Garza all have the same tempermant as Chamberlain.
Joba was hitting 97 mph as a starter last year. Do people not pay attention to any of Joba good starts? Joba lack of velocity is not because he is starting it is because of poor mechanics or his shoulder injury from last year. He wasn't throwing real hard after his shoulder injury when he was pitching out of the bullpen last year. Joba still might trying to build up his arm strength. I wouldn't be shocked if his velocity comes back more consistenly next year.
And Joba struggling in 3 inning outings is more like pitching out of the bullpen in relief than starting.
Believe me, I am in no way agreeing with Crasnick.
Hmmm, with all the Joba rules, how many games has he missed because of injury this year?
If there's an opening in the rotation next year, Hughes might get the Phil Rules.
Hughes definitely already has rules, and there will be more next year unless he stays in the pen, which he likely won't.
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