Summary

Season was meant for Joba to be a starter.

IF (I know big if…) Joba never was forced into the pen in the first place, this never is a discussion.

You never make a starter into a reliever until he 100% proves he isn’t capable of being a stater.

I highly doubt that the yankees 2nd best starter, aka Joba Chamberlain, would be put into the pen.

Why not put Hughes in the pen? It makes more sense since obviously the Organization values Joba over Huges.

Its a dead issue right now. I can’t stand people like Mike Francesca for even arguing for the other side, it makes no sense.

linked to a great refutation of ‘Joba the reliever’ at RAB.

the ONLY reason Joba should ever be a reliever is if he physically cant handle a starter’s workload, which cant be said until at least the end of next season. if he continues to struggle with injuries, and its due to too much pitching, then we can CONSIDER moving him.

This is sooooo old, and such a useless discussion. I know everybody has an opinion, but none of it matters. He’s a starter, and he will be a darn good one. No matter what anybody thinks. Joba to the bullpen rants are mostly a lot of wasted time and energy.

Thanks guys for your thoughts! I now am confirmed in my stance and believe in Joba Chamberlain the starter.

I noticed the poll results and am surprised to see that the majority of votes were for Joba to stay in the pen. It’s just interesting to me because everyone who posted here is against that.

needs to learn that yelling at people does not mean they are wrong. Joba is already a quality starting pitcher with signs of greatness. AND he pitched out of the pen for a pretty short period of time (small sample size)

but i do think he is a starter…just situationally right now he should be in the bullpen. And i’ll try to name a few reasons

Joba has the second best ERA on the team true but he doesn’t really go late into games..but he is still young and that may come around.

He’s got some great stuff that is definitely closer material and he could potentially be taking Mo’s role when he retires. The reason Wang isn’t a reliever is b/c he is a high inning pitcher b/c of his sinker. Yes he only has a couple pitches but if you’ve got an effective sinker you don’t really need much else.

The other year when he came in as a reliever and had so many scoreless innnings…i think that got everyone thinking of his dominant late inning pitching and i think people feel comfortable with hime in late innings.

I think most importantly is right now you need a guy who you can count on to pitch the 8th to set up Mo although when bruney comes back this could be a moot point but who knows when that is. Do you really…i mean really trust anyone else to pitch a scoreless 8th…coke maybe, aceves maybe. But thats about it right now. Ramirez has got good stuff that we’ve seen before but now he’s at triple A trying to find him self and i don’t really trust anyone else.

So…situationally when wang comes back and you won’t send phil down to trip A b/c he’s makeing huge strides, it somewhat makes sense to let joba pitch out of the pen.

I have been checking out the posts at RAB and here over the last few days. Haven’t really be tuned into the Yankee blogosphere this year, but it’s amazing to me that the story hasn’t changed since Joba’s first lights out August/September in 2007. This debate is still raging?

Way back when, without any indication of Joba’s MLB performance as a starter, I was for Joba in the pen. At this point? That ship has long since sailed. The Yankees look like they have 6 quality arms in the rotation. But as Pettite’s back troubles last night indicate, these things always tend to work themselves out organically. My guess is that if Andy’s been tight since Monday, he’ll be skipped in his next start. Wang will get the call. If he’s great and Andy’s healed, then there may be another logjam for a week or so, until something else happens. Or Hughes goes back to Scranton for a bit.

If you think that moving Joba to the bullpen will magically add 5mph to his fastball, you’re outta your mind. We’ve seen Joba have games where his fastball is hitting 97. Guys don’t always have the same stuff every start, and putting him in the bullpen wouldn’t change that.

Besides that, starting pitching is far more important than relief pitching. This is why teams spend the least amount of money on their bullpens, it’s a luxury item. Your starters generally pitch 6-7 innings of a game, with relievers pitching only 2 or 3 innings, so it’s a simple game of numbers as to which is more important.

Finally, the bullpen is for pitchers who have failed as starters, or aren’t ready to start yet. Joba is definitely ready, and we need to give him a couple years of starting before we’ll know if he’s failed or not. In terms of FIP, he’s currently our second best pitcher so far this season, so I have a funny feeling he’s going to turn into an elite starter in the coming years.