Why Joba Has Pitched Poorly

then someone has a lot of explaining to do. Either a) Joba is hiding the injury, which is selfish and stupid or b) the Yankees are hiding the injury but continue to send him out every 5 days, which is also selfish and stupid.

Interesting idea tho.

I dont know HOW he’s hurt, but there’s NO WAY the change in dominance and velocity are occurring amid a situation where he somehow managed to get out of the “IP Overload in Just One Year” house of horrors, while already sustaining an existing shoulder issue.

I dont think the yanks wouldnt necessarily be addressing it publicly, bc imagine if he IS hurt? Think about what we’d do the brass that took our golden boy and endangered his arm so early in his career, over such a wildly controversial subject.

great piece, glad someone wrote this!

(Ps, I guess it’s also kinda like what I tell my chick friends who are bemoaning their boyfriends’ behavior but then justifying it with “well he’s just dealing with commitment issues/insecure/working really late”…Who cares what the rationale is behind it when, either way, it still means you have to suffer through the resulting output of it. I think Joba’s hurt, but at this point, the underlying problem is only a periphery sideshow to the conspicious decline of his caliber. Basically, Joba’s telling me he slept around because he was scared of getting too close. The bastard.)

that he has an injury other then his arm, just due to the fact that he is able to go 100 pitches every game. All the power pitchers rely on their legs and a lack of ability to push off would explain the drop in velocity.

He may have hid the injury initially and fought through the pain, and ended up tweaking something in his delivery. Who knows, but injury is definitely a possibility.

I don’t think he’s hurt physically, but mentally maybe? I still believe he try’s too hard to protect his stats. Look at what happens to him after an error. How many un-earned runs has he given up. Watch his demeanor change. I would like to see him have a rap session with David Cone. Why Cone? I believe Cone could step into the pitching coaches job, right now. Cone’s experience, skills and patience were on display daily when he was here. Even Mel said he was a great instructor.

The injury bug might make more sense to me if prior to getting plunked in the leg he was pitching fabulously. He wasn’t. In fact, as your stats show, he was barely getting out of the 5th. That’s not good pitching.

As a former pitcher, I can tell you when your legs are hurt, effectiveness plummets. But there’s more to Joba’s grueling, almost unwatchable starts than a leg injury. In my opinion, he’s afraid to get hit, and simply doesn’t trust his stuff—not a good combination for a starter.

Watch when he goes up on a hitter 0-2, 1-2 … Watch how he nibbles—spinning curves on the corners or sliders in the dirt—hoping someone chases. They rarely do because hitters are beginning to figure out that Joba doesn’t have the gas or command to put them away.
That’s why we are seeing 3-2 counts, countless foul balls before a stinging hit to center.

Is Joba in the rotation an experiment gone awry? I think he could be a solid starter, but I think his best place to help the Yankees is stepping into the 8th inning role. That’s not likely to happen so instead, message to Dave Eiland and Joba. Scrap the nibbling. Grow a pair and attack the hitters. Challenge, challenge, challenge. If that can’t be accomplished in the rotation, then he needs to slide to the pen.

Crown Royal? Kidding, theory could be true. But it could also be, that he isn’t built ot be a starter. I understand they want him to be and it takes time yada,yada,yada. But only time will tell.

WTF?

In my eyes Joba should have never been moved from the bullpen. He was very comfortable there and very effective. But now that he’s in the starting rotation, everyone needs to accept it. I believe he has the stuff to be a starter, but the problem is the pitch count. Pitchers are being held to such a strict # of pitches they can throw. And in Joba’s case, I think it affects the way he ptiches. He tries to be perfect and that can gets him in trouble. When he was in the bullpen he would just let it rip. Now he has to be mindful of how many pitches he throws and he has lost some speed on his pitches. Which could be a result of trying to save something for later. He tries to make sure he lasts and gives the Yanks the innings they need. But until he doesn’t have a pitch count that is reasonable he won’t be able to be as good or maybe one day a great staret that he can be…

P.S. check this Yankee video out, no too shabby!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfH5_bhgKsU