Last night, Chad Gaudin turned in another serviceable outing, allowing 2 runs in 4.2 innings, as he cruised until tiring in the 5th. He has allowed 3 runs or less in his last three starts, and has an ERA of 3.71 as a Yankee. Why is this important? Well, take a gander at Brian Cashman’s recent comments, courtesy of Pete Caldera:
“Everybody loves his tenacity,’’ Cashman said. “But we’re going to take the best 10 guys. There’s no assumptions there.’’
“He’s put himself in a position where the manager has to make a decision that there’s not one guy ahead of him that he needs to give the ball to,’’ Cashman said. “He might not realize it, but he’s in competition with any number of guys to take the ball.’’
Personally, I would take Joba if he shows any improvement in his next two starts, as he is more likely to throw a gem than Gaudin is, and you can always have Joba backed up by Gaudin or Aceves if it looks like a clunker is in the offing. However, the real mystery is the fate of Joba Chamberlain should the Yankees tab Gaudin for a game 4 start. Does he go to the bullpen, or is he left off the roster?
The Yankees need to make this decision after the next turn through the rotation for both guys. At that point, there will be 5 games remaining. If the choice is Joba, leave the status quo in place and let Joba take his final turn. However, if the choice is Gaudin, Joba should be moved to the bullpen for the last 5 games. That way, the Yankees can judge whether he can be an asset in that role in October, or if he needs to be shut down. Just throwing him into the bullpen and hoping for the best seems silly and short-sighted. The Yankees need to determine whether a bullpen role will be a good fit for the 2009 version of Joba. If not, they should just send him home and tell him to get ready for 2010.
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16 Responses to What If The Yankees Choose Gaudin Over Joba?
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TIQ IQ
I think the Yankees are just trying to create a bit of competition and Joba is still the favorite. The way Joba has pitched in the second half though, I would like to see them move him to pen for the playoffs and give Gaudin the 4th spot. If Joba could be the 7th inning guy to set up Hughes and Rivera he would impact more games than he would as the 4th starter.
How does Joba in the 7th do anything for the team? He isn’t going to throw harder or he would have when he was only going 3 innings, you will just end up with a 7th inning pitcher who throws 91 and doesn’t have good breaking shit you might as well not even use him in the playoffs is he proves not to be better than Gaudin. If he can’t start and has the same stuff he is useless out of the pen.
Most pitchers throw harder out of the pen. The idea when he was pitching 3 innings was to throw like a starter. Now the idea is to throw like a reliever. If there is no improvement, you just do not use him. It cannot hurt to try.
Thanks? You think you informed me here? It actually can hurt you to try when you put him in in the 7th and he gives up the lead because he is throwing 92. You can’t just say it won’t hurt if he is this pitcher it can.
When he was pitching 3 innings one of the reasons behind that was building him back up like spring training and they were hoping they would build back up some arm strength and velocity out of it as well and it really didn’t happen.
Logic would say they would throw harder out of the pen but if he is going into the pen and he hasn’t thrown hard all year because he is afraid of getting injured as I feel he is then he won’t throw harder in the pen. If he comes out as this Joba in the pen he is useless, and if he can’t beat out Gaudin who can only go 5 innings at a time he won’t be much help in the playoffs.
It wont hurt if he is giving up the lead in the last 5 meaningless games of the season. You try him out 2 or 3 times, and if you see improvement, you carry him on the roster. If not, you don’t. What is the downside to giving it a try?
No what I mean is you won’t know what he can do in the pen unless you put him there and I doubt they are willing to do that before the post season because they want to give him every opportunity to be the starter. SO you could end up with a wasted spot in the pen if his velocity doesn’t pick up because his velocity is down because of his head as I suspect is partially to blame. So you may not know what you have out of the pen until meaningful games.
For Gaudin to be used in the playoffs as a starter he is going to have to prove he go longer than 4 2/3 IP because you it will be hard to advance in the playoffs when you have to pitch 4 1/3 IP out of your bull pen against either Boston or LAA. If he can prove he has the gas to go 6 consistently then no problem but as is he hasn’t even gotten a decision because he rarely goes a full 5.
I also heard they were trying to give Joba one start against Boston and then one start on the last day of the year against the Royals to try and give him two more chances to go 6 innings and prove himself to start, and if they do then there are no games to “experiment” with him in the pen. So if that turns out to be the case and he doesn’t start you bring Chamberlain into the post season not knowing what he is out of the pen.
So what I suggested in the post was that they give him one more guaranteed start. If he pitches well, you let him make the 2nd start and see what happens. If he pitches poorly, you forget about that last start and try him in the bullpen for the last week.
And my response was I don’t think that’s what they are going to do because they want to give him both opportunities to earn the spot, once again back at square one.
I think that would be a big mistake. If he doesn’t earn the spot, then you have basically rendered him useless. With my plan, you have a shot to use him as an asset.
OK I’m not in charge of the Yankees I am just telling you what I heard there plan was! HE will get 2 more starts and go 6 innings in both or so the plan is right now… If you don’t like it call Cashman and tell him… I can’t change it…
Because it goes along with the Joba chamberlain discussion and I don’t think it should get stuck to the side in the off topic area this is the match up for the last Boston series of the year and it set up well for us!
Friday, September 25 @ NY Battle of the lefties
Jon Lester Vs CC Sabathia
Obviously two great starters but at this point in their career I take CC.
Saturday, September 26 @ NY Battle of the possible 4th starters
Dice-K Vs Joba
In this one both could be shaky and both could be lights out should be an interesting match up but right now given Joba’s last few starts edge foes to the Dice.
Sunday, September 27 @ NY the third Boston pitcher released by the Yankees?
Paul Byrd Vs Andy Pettitte
Partially a joke about Paul Byrd being the third released by the Yankees but seriously he throws 87 and the Yankees should tear him apart because he has to pitch them in the zone with less than average stuff and he could go the way of Smoltz and Penny in this one. Pettitte gets the edge.
I think if you leave Joba off the post season roster you kill his confidence to the point he could never be the same pitcher ever again! He already lives and dies (more often recently dies) by whether or not he has emotion while starting and if you take his confidence and emotion away you kill him as a pitcher.
Give Joba a little credit. If he gets left off the postseason roster(not likely) it won’t kill him. Mostly it should let him know that he needs to produce. If his psyche is that fragile he needs to go be a farmer. This is about the team succeeding after all.
Hok… I give Joba credit but all sports personalities egos are fragile and he could very well be ruined by it. Yeah it could tell him to do better but his last 6 starts should have told him he needs to pitch better but yet he hasn’t, and he also hasn’t got out of his own head enough to throw gas, he is still protecting his arm so obviously he isn’t the fastest learner. He pitches with a lot of emotion and confidence and when you take the emotion away from him (lately he has had none on the mound) you get the 7 run start he had even though he had decent stuff because he wasn’t emotionally into the game like earlier in the season or when he came out of the all star break or like in 2007 or last year.