. . IF (and that’s a big if) the Yankees land another starter. Brian Cashman was interviewed on the Michael Kay show this afternoon, and cleared up the confusion that was caused by his remarks and the reports that made the rounds soon thereafter.
Kay opened up with a question on this very topic, and I transcribed it word for word, so everyone can read it in its entirety. Though feel free to click the above link for the podcast to listen for yourself, especially since Brian is rather wordy and inflection and emphasis can sometimes alter meaning. Anyway, here goes:
Michael Kay-“So many people were shocked when we played the cut of you yesterday saying that Joba and Phil (Hughes) would be battling for one spot in the rotation. Did you misspeak? Or did you mean that there would be only one spot in the rotation for the two of them?
Brian Cashman-“No! I was very clear, actually. The question that I responded to was ‘If you get another starter, what does that do for Joba and Hughes?’ because all winter long it’s Joba and Hughes are coming in as starters, along with Aceves, Mitre and Gaudin, they’ll be prepared as starters and after that, we’ll see where we go. And essentially, the follow up question was ‘You say you’re looking for starting pitching because you can’t have enough’ and what happens if you do secure another Starter, via Free Agency or trade? My response to that was well, clearly then the competition goes from those 3-4-5 guys for, along with Nova and McCallister, would go for, instead of those guys competing for two spots, they’re competing for one. And the remaining guys would either go to our bullpen or go to AAA as options. So that’s assuming we ever trade, or acquire another starter. Because obviously we have Sabathia, Burnett and Pettitte right now, and we have the Hughes and Chamberlain’s and Gaudin’s and Mitre’s and Aceves’ and McCallisters and Nova’s competing for those final two spots. If we acquire another starter that population can only compete for one more spot. ”
Michael Kay-“Now, I guess the thing that stunned everybody, and was surprising to me Brian was I mean these guys have always been touted as future starters for the Yankees. So you’d be cool with one of them possibly being in the bullpen next year then?”
Brian Cashman-“If we went in with a starter that we actually like better, yeah. I have no problem with that, I mean we went into the playoffs with Hughes, Aceves and Chamberlain all in the bullpen. Why? Because we had guys we were giving the ball in the rotation , although it was a truncated rotation, we were giving the ball to guys we felt were more capable at that moment in time. So there’s no change in philosophy, as of right now, those guys are all starters. And if nothing changes, those guys are all starters. The question was ‘Well what if you get a starter?’ well, that means we have four, that means the remaining population competes for the final spot”
So long story short, if we get Ben Sheets then one of these guys winds up in the bullpen. That really shouldn’t surprise anyone, but the fact that everyone around the organization seems to think we need another starter makes this a likely scenario. And if they land an arm, they’ll be looking for one with a high ceiling. There’s not much point in getting another Sergio Mitre, they already have plenty of depth as Brian detailed. What they lack is proven upside from that second group.
One interesting note, notice how Brian gave each starter in rank order for the rotation, from his #1 through his #3 starter and did so chronologically. He then proceeded to list the remaining pitchers in what appears to be a chronological order of rank as well, but put Hughes in front of Chamberlain. May be nothing, or may be a window into who the organization thinks more highly of at this time.
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5 Responses to Final Update-Joba and Hughes will battle for one spot…
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TIQ IQ
I have no problem with the way he listed them, Phil has shown more then Joba…so far. Ultimately, I think Joba has the higher up-side but, as of yet, he hasn’t shown much. I go for whomever is getting better results, even counting the other 4 guys…although they will have a longer rope then Phil/Joba and the rest of them, money talks!
2010 is a new year for all of them, let the competition begin.
I’m not going to touch reading between the lines about the order in which someone reads off a list of names but I will touch who has shown more between Phil and Joba. To me there is no question that Chamberlain has proven more during his time in the majors. I can see both sides of a reliever debate. Hughes just had most of a great season in the bullpen where he became a trusted late inning man until fading at the end. Joba had already been there and done that though, and he did it in a more electrifying way albeit not over such a long period. I’d give the edge to Chamberlain but I’m OK with calling it a push. As starters, IMO, Hughes isn’t in the same league. He has never had anything one could call sustained success but has had a nice start here or there. Joba just had a 30 start season, he stayed healthy and achieved his inning limit. That is better than everything combined that Phil has done in his MLB career and better than 99% of 23 yr olds have done in history. That was the goal for Joba’s season by the way, stay healthy, get to the innings limit, stats be damned. The kicker here though are 3 consecutive starts after the All-Star break when Chamberlain pitched like a shutdown ace. I’m sure he had other excellent starts too but those 3, 10% of his total starts by themselves, showed just how good he can be. Phil hasn’t showed that yet. If Joba can simply build on that, in a couple years people will be wondering how anyone could have thought this guy should be relegated to toiling as a reliever. But hey, I’m pulling for both of them to avoid the dregs of the pen.
I only mentioned that because everyone else seemed to be in the order that most observers would put them in, except those two. I always thought they Joba considered to be a better prospect than Hughes, that his ceiling is higher.
Again, could mean absolutely nothing and I’m just reading way to much into it. But if Joba’s stock has dropped in the eyes of the Yankee brass, that’s a bit of news. If he falters again next year as a starter, they could send him back to the bullpen, this time permanently.
Just so it’s clear, I was commenting on:
‘Phil has shown more then Joba…so far. Ultimately, I think Joba has the higher up-side but, as of yet, he hasn’t shown much.’
[...] rotation. Brian Cashman cleared up the situation on Michael Kay’s radio show yesterday, and Steve from The Yankee Universe has the transcript, in which Cashman clarifies the misinterpretation of his words. ESPN, as it [...]