In what will be the last meaningless game of the season for the Yankees, manager Joe Girardi told reporters yesterday that he will want to get Joba Chamberlain into the game in a relief role to help him determine whether or not to include him on the post season roster. Mark Feinsand has the story:
“We’ll see how quickly he warms up, how he is in a short stint,” Girardi said. “Everything that you would want to know if we were going to bring him in for an inning.”
The decision to use Chamberlain in relief today was a change of course for Girardi, who earlier in the week ruled out the idea after the righthander threw 91 pitches on Wednesday night.
“He feels good right now,” said Girardi, who discussed the situation over the past few days with team trainers, general manager Brian Cashman and pitching coach Dave Eiland. “I’ll wait to see how he feels (today). He’s in that mix, so it’s something we’re going to take a look at.”
As usual, Girardi nailed it. The biggest question is to see how he warms up and how he looks early on. In many of his starts this year he has started out slowly, throwing in the low 90s and building velocity as the game progressed. Now we will get to see if he can come out guns blazing as he did in his rookie season.
Joba weighed in on the situation as well:
Chamberlain appeared to be in agreement with the decision, noting that his previous experience as a reliever will help him with his pregame preparations even after working the entire season as a starter.
“It’s not something new, so I have a plan on what I need to do to get ready because I’ve done it before,” Chamberlain said. “That’s the advantage I have. I’ll come to the ballpark and have the idea that I’m probably going to pitch in the game.”
This appearance should answer many questions about Joba Chamberlain. The nagging question on his missing velocity, whether last year’s shoulder tendinitis left him a diminished pitcher. But the upside is huge. If Joba returns to 07 form, the Yankees will without question have the best bullpen in all of Baseball heading into the playoffs, and be a prohibitive favorite to win the World Series.
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14 Responses to Joba Returns to the Pen
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TIQ IQ
this is the song that never ends. It just goes on and on and on. This debate will last forever. It will drive me crazy forever. It will be interesting to see what his stuff is like out of the pen, though. If he goes back to throwing 98 with a nasty slider, it indicates that they changed his motion as a starter to prevent injury. If he’s only 94-95, it means that there’s some lingering weakness from the surgery.
I’d be surprised if he isn’t throwing hard.
Two big questions:
1. Does Joe use him in long or short relief?
2. Does Joba go back into the rotation for the next series? If that’s the plan, then they’ll prob use Joba in long relief to keep him in the rhythm of starting and we won’t see much of a gain on his heater.
Joba in now – 3 up, 3 down, go, K, fo. Fastballs of 94, 95, and 94 – still no smoke but very effective
I still believe he has been protecting his arm all year by not throwing the real hard fastball all the time and trying to get by with the 91-92 early in the game in order to reach the harder gas later that just never comes. I could be wrong but it just seems the gas comes as Joba relaxes and gets into a rhythm which to me would indicate he is thinking to much and when he gets on a role he sort of just lets things come.
I’ve been trying to figure out what the heck is going on with his velocity all year – I have no clue.
Yeah the best I can come up with is guesses as good as yours but it is a stumper, and what adds to that mystery is the fact he has hit 98 on the radar gun one time and it was in the 8th inning of his first 8 inning game against Tampa. Once I saw that I really thought he was going to break out, I mean he proved he can throw hard and in a late inning but it’s just like he doesn’t want to at times or he is scared to.
D-Rob also looked good – 3up, 3 down
Joba only 1 inning, I guess he’s a short man again
I would have only envisioned him in the one inning 7th or 6th role and the last game of the DS not use him and start stretching him back out with bull pen sessions. I just don’t see bringing in Joba in the playoffs to go 2 or 3 innings when Ace could do it with Hughes as the back up plan late in games, and truthfully if we need long relievers in the first round before the 5th we aren’t winning this series.
very possibly. I just wonder b/c of how they treat him with kid gloves. In the past, they’ve been very wary of switching him back and forth between roles. I wonder if the gloves are finally off for the playoffs.
At this point do you have a choice? Gaudin could start over Joba but he would give you4 or max 5 runs and by that time the bull pen could be drained a little bit, at least to the point you wouldn’t want to pitch the pne that long. Yes Joba could do the same or worse but he has proved he can go deep and dominate at times and Gaudin hasn’t finished 7 yet.
Honestly, while I am of the mindset they should try to keep Joba as a starter going forward, once they knew he wasn’t going to pitch in Round 1 and the way he has pitched down the strech it seemed clear he would be in the Pen if at all. Given that, the Yanks should have had him in the Pen the last week and a half to get him to adjust for the playoffs. I know this will only fuel the Joba to the Pen debate, but if our goal is to win it this year and we already ate his inning limits and this is how we are going to use him for the playoffs it makes sense to get him ready… Oh well.
Agreed. I proposed that very thing last week. One outing is not enough to judge by.