Joba's velocity and Sheff

by Travis G on Mar 31, 2009 10:52 PM EDT in New York Yankees News

So according to the Yankees, Joba was consistently hitting 95 MPH during today's 6-3 win over Cincinnati. He went 5.1 innings, allowing two runs on five hits and three walks with six strikeouts.

Finally some Joba-the-reliever advocates have come over to the light side. Namely Jorge Posada, who has previously been one of the most vocal opponents of putting Joba in the rotation:

There's no question -- he's our fifth starter and I'm happy with that. I look for the betterment of Joba here. Give him credit, because he was so good out of the 'pen. I hadn't seen him as a starter, so he's been showing me and proving me wrong.

- Joba is set to appear in court tomorrow in Nebraska regarding his DUI last October.

- Gary Sheffield was released by the Tigers. They still owe him $14 million for the upcoming season. He hit just .225/.326/.400 last year but is one homer shy of 500. The trade Brian Cashman made with him has yet to declare a winner, but it sure didn't help either side much.

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Why Joba is a starter

Weeks and months of media and fans pounding their fists that Joba needs to be in the pen because as a reliever he has more of an impact over more games. With that silly logic guys like Clemens, Schilling, Randy J, Nolan Ryan should have been in the pen. The pen is for pitchers with 1 or 2 good to excellent pitches. Our beloved Mo really only has 1 A+ pitch. Joba has a 94-98 mph fastball that he can locate, a 90 mph slider that is just nasty, a fine 12-6 curve and an average change. When you have someone that can get outs with 4 pitches you put then in the starting 5. A starter wins games, a reliever helps not lose games.

by HappyLuckyGoldenDragonNumber1! on Apr 1, 2009 3:52 AM EDT reply actions

Joba was destined

to be a starter. He only came up as a reliever cuz that was the need. He is a starter and from what he showed in his brief time starting last year is that he knows how to pitch. He could wind up being the best of our 5 starters even this year cuz he just has that sort of stuff.

by FreeBradshaw on Apr 1, 2009 9:08 AM EDT reply actions

Wow...

…86 pitches in 5 1/3 innings. Color me impressed. Until he starts getting some quick innings, I’m going to be skeptical about his future and longevity as a starting pitcher.

by rsjem23 on Apr 1, 2009 12:11 PM EDT reply actions

Pitches

I know that isn’t economical, but it is what a lot of these guys do now. His ERA was 2.77 his last three starts. Hard to argue with.

by Ed Valentine on Apr 1, 2009 2:51 PM EDT up reply actions

ideally he'd be more economical

but that should come with experience.

by Travis G on Apr 1, 2009 3:20 PM EDT up reply actions

I would hope so...

I’m just tempering my expectations for Joba. If he proves his arm can handle 150 IP this year, I’ll be convinced since he hasn’t even reached 120 at any point in his entire life.

And he needs to get the pitch count down, it doesn’t help us if he’s done after 5 innings every 5 days.

by rsjem23 on Apr 1, 2009 3:29 PM EDT up reply actions

joba na barta

keep joba in the pen, bring him out again and again , and down the road … the yankees will look like gold!!!!!! the starters look good . and lets not call this guy nolan ryan just yet. the yankees need good innings and joba can do that. anyway the kid never says anything and seems happy with any role ,joe gives him . so remember you don’t win the world series in april . long year and we havn’t even started yet .
so believe and ….
go yankees

by yankeewwatch on Apr 1, 2009 4:11 PM EDT reply actions