What happens if when Joba returns from AAA he gets hammered as a starter? Usually a young pitcher like The Beast would get sent back to AAA to figure out why he is getting hit and then brought back to give it another try.
In Joba's case, however, if he does not succeed almost immediately as a starter, will the Yanks send him down to AAA to work it out, or will they put him back in the 'pen where he has been extremely successful? Having that dominant link to Mariano might be a key to the Yanks winning a World Series in 2008; will Hank, Hal, Cash and General Joe be willing to sacrifice that possibility in order to allow Joba to work out his starting issues in the minors?
I think the Yanks are backing themselves into a corner. It's extremely unfair to ask a 21 year old with ZERO games started in the major leagues to be successful immediately. Unless he is successful immediately the pressure to put him back in the 'pen will be immense. If he returns to the 'pen Joba would probably top out at 100 - 120 ip for the year and we would be faced with the same innings limit issue in 2009 as we are in 2008.
I completely agree with the goal of protecting all of our young pitchers with an eye toward their (and our) future. In this case, however, I think the Yanks are setting Joba up to fail (as a starter) and pushing him toward being a career reliever.
3 comments:
The Yankees pitching staff will be the key to success this season, just like every year. They have the bats to contend with the muscle-ridden teams like the Tigers and the Red Sox, and thier bullpen will be a question with Jaba moving to the starting rotation. Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton has insight like no one else. See what he has to say regarding the 2008 season. http://www.xtrasports1360.com/pages/sportswatch.html
The Yankees are babying Joba far too much. Rather than be "careful" with his arm, they should throw him into a starting role as soon as possible. If they constantly baby him, he'll never develop any degree of arm strength and he'll be fragile throughout his career.
Mark r u high if Joba throws more then 140 innings (that’s about 25 starts) he is at a high risk of getting hurt and every team does this u go up in innings by 30 (roughly) each year and in 2 years he should be able to throw 200 innings he is young calm down and think more about this kids future and the clubs future a lot of good Joba will do if he is on the DL
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