Hank: I want Joba in rotation
Hank Steinbrenner told the New York Times yesterday that he wants Joba Chamberlain in the rotation, and fast. Steinbrenner hasn't returned my call, so here's what he said to the Times:
“I want him as a starter and so does everyone else, including him, and that is what we are working toward and we need him there now,” Steinbrenner said Sunday by telephone. “There is no question about it, you don’t have a guy with a 100-mile-per-hour fastball and keep him as a setup guy. You just don’t do that. You have to be an idiot to do that.”
Steinbrenner said the Yankees were working on easing Chamberlain into the rotation, but he would not be specific on a timetable. The Yankees’ brain trust had wanted to limit Chamberlain’s innings by having him spend at least part of the season in the bullpen. “The mistake was already made last year switching him to the bullpen out of panic or whatever,” Steinbrenner said. “I had no say in it last year and I wouldn’t have allowed it. That was done last year, so now we have to catch up. It has to be done on a schedule so we don’t rush him.”
(my thought-It's not completely clear which starter he's advocating moving out of the rotation, but he does remind everyone he wanted to get Johan Santana:)
“The starting rotation is not what I would have chosen at the beginning of the year, but that is not a big news flash to anyone,” Steinbrenner said.
Again, that's all from the NY Times.
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Comments (15)
I think Joba needs to be in the pen, Hank knows nothing about the actual game of baseball as we can all see. It isn't even May and he's throwing up his hands and showing he doesn't have much patience (like his father). I, along with all other Yankees fans, do not want to waste Joba. BUT, he is still very young, and by putting him at the end of the bullpen, it ensures that we have our 8th and 9th innings set up on any given night, and it also limits his pitch count over the year because he's only pitching an inning at a time.
Who knows what the right decision is, what do you all think should be done? and if Joba moved to the rotation, would Moose get removed? or Kennedy?
Kat -
I read the Times article and in it he mentions how the team will be fine once Kennedy and Hughes get some more starts under their belt and with the continued performances of Wang and Andy - the name that is left out is Moose who he later says needs to learn how to pitch like Jaime Moyer.
I can't say I totally disagree with him. Bruney and Ohlendorf have been very good to start the season - the rotation has not been. Now of course there will be the talking heads like Mike and Mad Dog who will spend all week blasting the idea - but for me it all comes back to the fact that Mo isn't going anywhere and using Joba for three years as a set-up guy is a waste. When Mo was showing greatness setting up for Wetteland the Yankees let Wetteland go. When Lidge was coming up behind Dotel and Wanger the Astros moved those guys - Rivera isn't going anywhere.
Hank is pushing the panic button. He watches as Kennedy and Hughes get shelled every 5th day if they were having success early on this wouldn't even be an issue.Who knows if the rotation will straighten out ? What roster moves NY will make ? If Cashman has anything up his sleeve? Girardi will sit tight w/ what they have until the end of May.You know just what Girardi needs another intrusive face up his butt owner.
Hey, I know, Mo is a lights out guy, so let's make him a starter too!!!! Same rational, so let's do it ASAP!!!!
Well, the rotten crab-apple doesn't fall far from the tree does it? That took all of what, 20 games? Hank needs to concentrate on oats and manure and needling Red Sox fans as much as possible. If the kids are still struggling in July, then you make a move and a maybe a trade for someone to replace Joba at setup if you're not comfortable with Hawkworth and Brulendorf.
Saw a great T-shirt on a Yankee fan at Camden Yards: underneath the Yankee logo: "Evil Empire." It's probably all over the place back home, but I hadn't seen it yet. Gotta get me one of those.
Hughes and Kennedy is not good at all and if Joba follows that path that means you have three idiots giving up 5 run innings. sparing Kennedy and blind siding Moose is not right. go ahead and mess up a solid pen and have Mo pitching the 8th
Shut up, Hank.
Hey Rick !
Anon's right. The problem with kids is, no matter how good they are, you never know when they're going to put up a five-spot. They can be lights out for three innings or three starts, and blam! Five spot! That's just something you have to live with all year long, and maybe next year, too. What happened to the Hank who said we might have to lower expectations right after he fired Torre? I don't recall him saying we might have to lower expectations "for the first 20 games of the season." These ridiculous Steingrabbers will stop at nothing to be able to say I told you so.
Hey ruse! Good to see you back on here.
Well so much for the patience that Hank implored us to have over the winter.
I have to admit, watching Kennedy walk batter after batter Saturday night in Baltimore was frustrating as hell, especially since we've heard the term "polished" and "throws strikes" and "more MLB ready than the others" when Kennedy's name has been mentioned in the past so I guess Hank blew his top....let's let him cool off a bit and see what happens. We know we've all been mad at one time or other this season.
I think we can expect almost the same path from Hughes as we're seeing in Queens with Mike Pelfrey. Last year that guy couldn't win a start to save his life and this year, up until the 5th inning of last night's game he looked really good.
Good advice, Jim A.
The next link has a bunch of folks (me included) throwing around the term "voice of reason"--but yours is the first truly reasonable comment I've read this a.m. He's the boss, he's allowed to freak out, I guess. That was a piss poor performance on Saturday night.
See, Hank really is able to get people riled up, isn't he? If he's doing it on purpose, he sure is effective. I hope he knows what he's doing.
Again the Hank blast was a polictical format to ease in Girardi face that reality .
the Kids right now are a bust so in good nature BC have to explore patience becasue if he does otherwise then it would proove to others that his decision to keep these players was null.
while who ever decision to keep Joba in the pen is working out soe well in the shaping of the pen that now they want to place him in the rotation which is prooving to be slipping.
of course hank is mad he defended these players who right now performance is making the decision look bad after each start.
the real problem to be honest was the off season movement. another starter should have been signed or traded for that has a solid resume jsut in case you are faced with the diliema we have now
The one thing people working with young players knows is not to panic if things go awry early on. To throw Joba in the rotation now would screw up the plan for him, and do nothing to help Kennedy and Hughes with their confidence. This is what happens when you hand over 40 percent of your rotation to kids. Hank needs to chill out, have a few cocktails and let his people run the team. At this moment, who wouldn't prefer Santana to these two? But it's only April.
Yes, JZ. Exactly.