When will the Yankees finally let Joba Chamberlain pitch?
Brian Cashman revealed last night that, as far as Joba Chamberlain is concerned, 2009 will look a lot like '08.
So he'll begin in the bullpen and transition to the rotation around June. Again.
We see what the Yankees are doing, but we don't agree with it. They place inning limits on their pitchers for a reason - they don't want them throwing 200 innings and then breaking down the next year. But what good does it do the Yankees - the team trying to make the playoffs - if it takes him three or four years of bouncing back and forth between the bullpen and the rotation before finally reaching 200 innings?
If he's not ready to be a full-fledged major-leaguer, which is what the Yankees essentially are saying, then he shouldn't be here. If you're going to restrict a pitcher like this year after year, it's a legitimate to wonder whether it's even worth bringing him up. Maybe it's better to take care of this process in the minors. And when you think he can play with the big boys, with no seatbelt, then it's time to call him up.
Because here's the scary part: this won't end in 2009.
Let's say Joba finishes this season with 100 innings. The Yankees will probably place his '09 inning limit somewhere around 140. What are the chances he actually hits that number? Maybe 70 percent? What happens if he feels a twinge in his shoulder next May and it turns out to be nothing, but they decide to play it safe - because he's Joba! - and they DL him for a month. Then he finishes with, say, 120 innings, and the next year he can only pitch 160. This game is endless, and it's a distraction for his major-league teammates.
If the Yankees want to contend next season, they need to suck it up. Free Joba.
E-mail
Facebook
Digg
Delicious
Comments (9)
1977 ... "You Light Up My Life" by Debby Boone
the yankees will not make the playoffs next yr either
Let the kid play.
Did the redsox limit roger clemens? Did the mariners limit randy johnson? Was nolan ryan ever on a pitch count? They all started pitching at young ages and made it into their 40's.
This stuff is getting ridiculous now....Jim, I'm in full agreement here. The kid will never progress as a major league pitcher unless the Yankees turn him loose! Ironically, they may be damaging him more by letting him be continuously babied. No risk = no reward.
It's really time to find out who is making these crazy decisions and then FIRE 'EM!
Did anyone ever stop and think that maybe the Yankees know something we don't know about Joba? The Yankees are obviously not making the playoffs this year. They are trying to build up their future. Pitching itself is an unnatural act for the shoulder and sometimes the human body can't handle it. Everyone's shoulders are built slightly different. You mention did they have restriction on Roger Clemens? No they did not. Did he have shoulder issues in his early 20s. No he didn't. Did he use steroids in his later years...(Steroids such as Decca Durabolin that besides build muscle actually help joints by strengthening them and lubricating them). Yes he did.
Do you want to start listing all the players who had shoulder problems/ surgery?
The fact is Joba is a hard thrower who was ALWAYS getting into high pitch counts and he is already developing shoulder issues at such a young age. There is a very high chance that if he continues in the starting rotation he will develop more serious shoulder problems. Joba might be restricted to the bullpen FOREVER.... it's a possibility.
Very good article. Learning to pitch in the major leagues is always a dicey affair, and bouncing from the bullpen to the starting rotation is only going to make the process more difficult. They should shut him down for the rest of the year, maybe have him play a little winter ball, then see if he can be a starter next year by putting him in the starting rotation in Triple A.
Chamberlain had problems with tendonitis his final year in college, probably why he wasn't chosen a lot higher than the 41st pick (he wasn't even the 1st pitcher the Yankees took in the draft that year, Ian Kennedy was). At some point, you have to test whether the guy is capable of pitching 180-220 innings a year, the way a front-of-the-rotation starter does. If not, make him a setup man or closer, but stop babying him. If he can't stand up to the physical exertion, you need to go in other directions.
For comparison's sake, in Pettitte's first year as a pro (1995) he was 24 years old (2 years older than Joba, 3 years older than Hughes) he threw 175 innings, the next year he was at 220. Why can't Hughes or Joba handle that sort of workload? They're just as big and strong as Andy was when he came up. Mike Mussina pitched 87 innings in the majors his first year (1991) and the next year he threw over 240.
Brandon Webb - 180 IP as a rookie over 200 the next year
Dan Haren in his first year as a full time starter - 217 IP after a year in which he threw 46 innings in the majors
Carlos Zambrano went from 108 IP in 2002 to 214 IP in 03
Ryan Dempster went from 66 IP last year and this year he's over 176 IP already
Jake Peavy's first full year as a starter he threw nearly 200 innings
Adam Wainwright went from throwing 75 innings as a reliever in 06 to over 200 innings last year.
It was pointed out that everyone is doing it these days - but that doesn't make it right. King Felix, Liriano, Hughes, Joba, Harden - they've all been babied and all gotten hurt. .
I think keeping pitchers healthy is a poop shoot - you can do everything right and they can still get hurt or you can just let them throw and they can be productive for years. But the bottom line is that when these kids feel any soreness at all Cashman orders them shut down for 2 weeks. All this does is teach them to not pitch through pain (like every pitcher eventually has to do) and not differentiate between normal soreness and serious injury. And the pitch counts turn them into 5 inning guys. A serious waste of their considerable talents.
Give me a break.
If the kid can't come back with a clean bill of health and throw 3-4 innings as a starter NOW there is something flawed in this
"development" system.
It's developing NOTHING.
Joba is gonna be micromanaged into oblivion.
The coaches should be more concerned with important things like mechanics (the inning before he "popped" his shoulder, I commented on the live chat that his mechanics were askew...look it up) and proper exercise between outings, rather than how many pitches he's thrown or innings pitched.
Mechanics and proper execise develop pitchers. PERIOD.
And just what the hell the kinda story does "innings pitched" tell anyone, anyhow?
Nothing, cuz he could be averaging 10 pitches an inning, he could be averaging 25 pitches an inning.
It's all johnny decoder ring psychobabble folks.
I am awaiting the day when I see him pitch to one batter and then retire from the game and putting bubble wrap on his arm cuz some damn beeper got triggered in Eiland's jockstrap.
Nobody ever became a good or great pitcher "saving" his arm.
Just my opinion.