Should The Yankees Put Joba In The Rotation?

Only in New York can the baseball team make the headlines even on their off day. Any Yankee fan has now heard about Hank Steinbrenner’s comments to the New York Times, screaming for lights-out reliever Joba Chamberlain to be moved to the starting rotation ASAP. GM Brian Cashman then came out saying that Joba was staying in the pen, as per the plan put in place for the young pitcher’s development before the season.

Apparently the dust clouds have settled, and as it turns out the entire franchise is still on the same page with the new Joba Rules: have him work in the pen for the start of the season, and slowly transition him to the starting rotation. Yet Hank’s comments and the media coverage that followed brought up an interesting debate: just what should the Yankees do with Joba Chamberlain? Some were adamant that the Yankees should transition him to the rotation immediately, arguing that he would be more valuable as a starter than a reliever. Others said that he was too good as a 7^th-8^th inning setup man to bring the games to Mo to move him.

My thoughts (in no particular order) on Joba and all of the arguments I heard yesterday on the radio, television, and internet conversations.

1)      Obviously the Yankees cannot simply move Joba to the starting rotation immediately. Hank Steinbrenner, as well as any fan with an ounce of baseball knowledge, knows that this is not possible without thrusting the young pitcher into a situation that he may not be able to handle and could likely get himself injured in. Also, the question of innings limits comes up. Since Joba is under strict rules for the number of innings he can pitch this season, he would run out of starts by the middle of the season, leaving the Yanks searching for not only a starter, but also a reliever, during the playoffs (should they be lucky enough to make them for a 13^th straight season).

2)      On the question of whether Joba’s innings are more valuable in the pen or the rotation: At the moment they are MUCH more valuable in the backend of the bullpen. As I said above, he would run out of starts in the middle of the season, whereas he can be with the team as a reliever for the entire duration. Also, nobody knows how he will perform as a starter. We know that he can be a good setup man, so why mess with a thing that works?

3)      Many people brought up the question of where Chamberlain would ultimately be more valuable. Really, it all depends on what kind of pitcher Joba shows that he can be. Right now he is a lights out setup man that thrives on knowing he only has to go out for one or two innings, so he can go all out the entire time, not tempering himself to make sure he has enough stuff to carry him through 6 or 7 innings. In spring training he was a starter, but after he switched back to a setup man, both he and his teammates acknowledged that he looked like a completely different pitcher. Perhaps ultimately Chamberlain’s personality and pitching style calls for him to be more of an asset in the bullpen than he could ever be in the rotation. If he can be a Josh Beckett type ace starter, then he would probably be more valuable as a starter, but until he proves that he can do that, let’s go with what we know.

4)      Saying that right now he is more valuable as a reliever and that he may ultimately be a bigger asset in the bullpen than in the rotation is not suggesting by any means that he should not be tested in the rotation and given a chance to prove that he can be the ace of the staff. He most definitely should.

5)      At the end of the day,  the person I think that Steinbrenner’s comments actually affect the most is not Brian Cashman, as most are suggesting. I think it is the other young pitchers Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy. Ultimately, the reason for Hank’s outburst is because of their inconsistency (as well as the Moose looking like the victim of age, the injury bug hitting many of the team’s star players, and the Yankees offense going AWOL). They are probably now feeling an increased pressure to perform well immediately given the strong relationship the two have with Joba Chamberlain. They won’t want his plan for development to be affected by their less than stellar performances.