Thursday, May 22, 2008

Joba Chamberlain pitched the eighth and ninth inning of Wednesday night's 8-0 win over the Orioles, and afterward the Yankees announced that it was the first step of the phenom's much-anticipated conversion from lights-out set-up man to starting pitcher.

"I am excited about the opportunity," Chamberlain said of the transition. "First and foremost though, we got to win ballgames from here on out. So tomorrow starts another day of getting my legs and getting back on mound to see what happens. And making sure we win a game."

On one hand, I am very excited to see what he can do. He's exciting, engaging, emotional. He has proven that he can be successful at this level, albeit in shorter stints. The reports from those who know Joba and his repetoire better than any of us (bloggers, fans and professional writers alike) say Joba has other pitches that he doesn't regularly use out of the pen. I hope that his starts become "must see" affairs. How cool would that be?

On the other hand, I'm a bit nervous for two reasons: 1) I have little faith in the others in the bullpen leading up to Mo; 2) I'm worried about him not succeeding. Now, I know #2 is a real wimpy thing to say, but after seeing Hughes struggle, Kennedy struggle, I worried that any lack of success will be detrimental to Joba. I am also concerned about expectations. Again, I know all these "things" are merely manifestations of my own fears and concerns about this team, but I try to be realistic, even if it's sobering.

So who does Joba replace? Obvious choice right now is Kennedy or whoever is the #5 right now. After all, Rasner's doing his best Aaron Small imitation and not giving up his #4 slot anytime soon, right? Moose isn't really a #3 any more but last start not withstanding, he's been pretty good. What about when Hughes comes back?

UPDATE: If you're here from the Providence Journal, welcome. I love a good debate, just keep it above the usual "Yanks suck--Sox suck" stuff!

2 comments:

Joey
said...

As Pete Abe so perfectly points out, this is not only a move for now, but a move for next year and beyond, because it looks to be Moose and Pettite's last seasons with the Yanks and we can't have Wang and 4 question marks (paraphrasing here). Hughes, until he proves otherwise is an injury risk and IPK needs to prove he belongs.

But beyond that, you just can't have a young kid with 3 (or 4, depending on who you listen to) plus pitches be limited to one inning in the pen. Worst comes to worst we can always move him back there, but with Joba you just have that gut feeling he'll be great in the starting rotation (and like all other rookies we have to give him a sort of grace period, because yes, there will be some bad starts)

The Yankees will find someone else for the 7th inning, whether it's Krazy Kyle or bringing up someone like Melacon, we'll find some way to float there.

Plus, my final proving point: Steve Phillips thinks he should stay in the bullpen (and we all know, he's tied with Joe Morgan for being the biggest idiot allowed to talk on ESPN)

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H. Suspensions1. For purposes of this Section 8, a "game" shall include all championship season games, the All-Star Game and post-season games in which the Player would have been eligible to play, but shall not include spring training games. For a Player whose contract has been assigned to the Minor Leagues, a "game" shall include all Minor League regular season games for which he would have been eligible to play. A Player shall be deemed to have been eligible to play in the All-Star Game if he was elected or selected to play; the Commissioner’s Office shall not exclude a Player from eligibility for election or selection because he is suspended under the Program.