The Great Joba Debate, This Time It’s One-Sided

Not Tyler Kepner tried to restart the great Joba debate that took place over last winter and the start of the season. Well he seems to have sparked a lot of conversation, but this time it a lot more one sided since everyone has seen how successful he can be as a starter.

First Peter Abraham stepped in and said that the first through sixth innings are more important than the eight. Today a few other blogs stepped up to comment and so far they all agree with Pete.

Was Watching looked at the debate by way of win shares. They state that even top closers only about 12-15 wins over the course of a season. Meanwhile, a good starter can contribute 15-18 wins and an ace pitcher does even better contributing to 19-25 wins. If that information is correct it makes this entire debate silly.

As their blog notes this is on the assumption that Joba pitches 200 innings which is unlikely, but even still the long-term implications are still realistic. This is not a debate on whether or not the Yankees could use Joba out of the pen late in the season after he’s closed in on his innings limit.

Pinstripe Alley was even more against considering moving Joba back to the pen. The first thing they noted was the effectiveness of the Yankees bullpen last season which was without Joba for most of the season. They finished forth in the majors. They also point out that moving him to the bullpen is not guarantee that he would stay healthy. Both are strong points.

They also debunk not Kepner’s argument that because the Red Sox did it with Jonathan Papelbon the Yankees were justified doing it with Joba. This was the weakest part of not Kepner’s argument. I argued that point the other day, but PA took it further explaining how Papelbon’s repertoire doesn’t compare to Joba’s.

I hope this argument dies soon. It’s silly at this point, Joba should be in the rotation. Where was this Times reporter when Joba ran off seven quality starts out of nine attempts last July? (The other two he reached his pitch count before qualifying.)