How Many Innings Will Joba Chamberlain Pitch in 2009?

(Zell's Pinstripe Blog)

As the season approaches, many people are talking about how Joba Chamberlain will fare this season. Cashman has stated that Joba will be a starter this year, and people are already discussing how many innings they think he will pitch.

My Prediction: 170 innings.

I say 170 because I don’t think the Yankees will baby him this year. He threw 100.1 innings last year. They saw how he performed in those twelve starts and I think they are confident he can make it as a starter. They will probably pull him from games with a big lead, when he is eligible for a win, but at the same time, I don’t think they will overwork him and throw him eight innings each time out either.

That just won’t happen. You may think my prediction is bold, but I think it’s a pretty solid guess. Joba went through some growing pains last year when he was moving in and out of the pen, but now he has a set role on the team before the season starts.

from Tim Dierkes (RotoAuthority):

I asked eleven of my favorite baseball writers to predict Chamberlain’s 2009 regular season innings total. Here are the results:

"

• Will Carroll, Baseball Prospectus: 175
• Peter Abraham, The Lohud Journal: 160
• Ken Rosenthal, FOX Sports: 155
• Peter Gammons, ESPN: 145
• Joe Pawlikowski, River Ave. Blues: 142
• Jerry Crasnick, ESPN: 142
• Ken Davidoff, Newsday: 141.6
• Rick Wilton, Baseball Injury Report: 140
• Rob Neyer, ESPN: 137.6
• Keith Law, ESPN: 125
• Jon Heyman, SI: 109

"