Last week, I got on A.J. Burnett’s case for a momentary lapse in accountability.
This week, Joba Chamberlain is on the spot (and deservedly so).
Here’s what Joba had to say following yesterday’s game.
“My delivery was great,” he said. “I threw some great changeups. My slider velocity was great. My fastball velocity was more consistent. … It’s going to take a lot more than this to get my confidence level down, I’ll tell you that much. You can kick me as much as you want but I’m going to come back fighting every time. That’s how I live this live and that’s how I play this game of baseball.”
Chamberlain was asked whether he was concerned with how he has pitched lately.
“I’m fine, man,” he said. “I’m fine.”
In 23 August innings, Joba gave up 21 ER. Though the calendar has mercifully flipped, in 13 September innings, Joba has given up 12 ER. His continued ineffectiveness, coupled with the assertion that he is “fine, man,” truly bothers me. Owning up to one’s failures is essential in the game of baseball. Joba has failed to exhibit such maturity throughout the season.
It’s not “fine” when your team’s lineup is immediately asked to score 7 or more runs in order to win a contest. That’s not fair to them. A 3 inning outing also isn’t fair for Sergio Mitre—or, on other days, Alfredo Aceves—who was forced to throw 5 innings out of the blue. Saying, “I’m fine,” when you feature an ERA over 8.00 since the All-Star break, may no longer be enough for your weary teammates.
At what point does, “I’m fine,” become, “I’ll be better,” because, in the end, that’s what the Yankees undoubtedly need. They don’t need Joba to be “fine,” instead, they need him to be effective. They need him to offer some level of stability. With the postseason nearing, that’s all that really matters.
UPDATE - It has been brought to my attention by StandingO’Neil that Peter Abraham’s account of Joba’s post-game interview is missing a vital piece of humility, one that all but eliminates this post’s purpose. From an ESPN article, we see that Joba did, in fact, own up to his Seattle clunker.
“I let my teammates down. It was pretty much embarrassing what I did, not being able to pick my team up and get out of here with a series win,” Chamberlain said. “It will take more than this to get my confidence level down. You can kick me as much as you want but I will come back fighting every time.”
Abraham’s account of Joba’s interview, or one similar to it, has pretty much floated around the blogging circuit. Everyone is discussing his lack of accountability, including RAB, for example, and SIH. However, it looks like we were led astray by flawed reporting. The moral of the story is—beware of ellipses, for they do more than just shorten a quote.
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21 Responses to Accountability Media Fail, pt. 2
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TIQ IQ
I know you are just being consistent with the accountability call outs, however I think you cherry picked a bit on this one. Here’s another quote from Joba after the game via an espn article:
“I let my teammates down. It was pretty much embarrassing what I did, not being able to pick my team up and get out of here with a series win,” Chamberlain said. “It will take more than this to get my confidence level down. You can kick me as much as you want but I will come back fighting every time.”
Personally I like that quote from Joba, hope he works hard this offseason and learns from hsi failures. We shall see.
Thanks for that, O’Neill. Everywhere I’ve gone it seems like people are cutting that quote. I’ll amend the post to show that.
Wow my made up screen name got a mention in a blog post, awesome, lol. Seriously I wasn’t trying to give you a hard time Chris, and by just reading what pete had posted I could understand the frustration towards Joba.
He’s an interesting kid, 2010 is a big year for him.
and if you want to get technical he did start out with some of the best stuff he has had since the Joba rules started, he hit 96 in the first and has good velocity and a real good change but at a certain point you have to do something with it and put it in the right location.
Well it does seem that you and Peter Abraham left part of his quote out to make him look bad. If he called himself embarrassing, what more do you want?
I didn’t really cut his quote to make him look bad. I cited PA’s account of the quote. I’m a blogger, not a reporter. His admonition there helps.
Sorry Chris, but I disagree with you here. Good pitchers need to have a short memory, and put bad results behind them quickly. I know fans don’t want to hear this, but its essential to performing well. They just need to say it in a way that doesn’t look bad in print.
I had no problem with IPK last year, and I have no issue with Joba. This is a media relations problem, not an attitude problem
+1, but I get understand where Chris is coming from. ALso, I think Pete Abe’s version of the quote was quite disingenuous, and was written to support his point about Joba never being accountable. The full quote is a lot tamer.
Slow news day, I guess.
Supposedly, IPK’s comments did bother his teammates, but who knows if that’s actually true or if that, too, was a misrepresentation. Joba’s comments seem similar to them so I wonder if they may have caused an equally similar reaction.
I think, if you’re a starter that has been struggling, it’s different than when you’re a reliever who can brush off a bad outing. Starters shouldn’t necessarily move beyond their bad results, quickly, if they’re struggling, rather, I think they should dwell on them to a degree so that they may learn from them. The main thing that bothers me with Joba is that he can say, without hesitation, “I’ll be on the mound again in 5 days and will give it another go.” I don’t feel like he has truly earned his spot and because of our thin rotation, he’s basically been handed one. For Joba, there is no real “punishmeent” for poor outings (he’s not threatened by another minor-league starter).
I think PA’s quote tries to fit this theme—an entitlement complex, which has its merits. However, in this instance, it’s really just a butchered quote and that’s unfair to Joba.
TSJC at RAB transcribed the whole thing. Joba sounds pretty damn accountable to me. Pete really butchered this thing.
http://riveraveblues.com/2009/09/looking-beyond-joba-for-some-fourth-options-17360/#comment-591268
I totally agree, Mo. Cherry picking/spinning isn’t very cool.
I think dwelling on anything bad can only lead you to doubt and questioning your own abilities in a sport like this, he needs to forget it and move past it but at the same time remember the lessons of the start, not the results but the lessons of where pitches where and what he did wrong.
Maybe ole Pete’s just trying to get in the mood for his new gig.
Pete Abraham editorializes in order for a story to fit his agenda? SHOCKER!
He was a great blogger, but oftentimes a poor journalist and a very poor analyst.
The other moral of the story is never trust anything Peter Abraham says. Awful reporter.
Another outing with very, very, poor results. but his delivery was great? C’mon! for much less than that Mitre or Gaudin or any ther pitcher gets ripped, why not Joba? he’s been a totally FIASCO for must of the season, he really deserves to be sent down. Alfredo Aceves with an avg stuff gets the job done, period.
I agree with that. Still no need to manufacture quotes.
Alfredo gets it done with average stuff in the pen, that is one maybe two innings at a time, put Ace in the rotation and see if you aren’t bitching just as much because he can’t hold a team below 5 runs unless he goes less than 4 or 5 innings it would be the same results.
Just because he had a sour outing when he started that doesn’t mean he can’t get it done. All I’m saying is the guy deserves a shot to become a starter. he has full command on 4 pitches, he doesn’t nibble, he attack the hitters and put himself on pitchers count for the most part, he may not strike out 8-12 guys per outing, but it does have the same value if you are able to keep your team in a position to win every 5th day, and that my friend is what Aceves does, and exactly what the team needs.
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