Joba Chamberlin

This kid has the goods.

I can't believe he tested Vlad last night. He hit 100 mph on the radar gun. Even the YES networks conservative gun clocked him at 100.

But good god, is that slider of his the nastiest pitch I've seen in years. He throws it harder than most pitchers do their fastballs. It frisbees away from righties and dives into lefties.

Do any of you believe he should remain in the pen rather than a projected starter in the future? Mariano is starting to show his age and he even came up as a starter before heading into the pen.

 

He will be and should be a starter. Mussina is rubbish. Clemens won't, hopefully, be around next season. The team needs a new starting pitcher that won't cost them Gil Meche money.

Releivers don't need a wide assortment of pitches. They need two or three good ones to get through an inning or two. The Yankees can obtain that from other less reliable starters.

 

Mussina has tranformed into Tom "nibble" Glavine. He's done.

You're right about the future of the starting pitching staff, but the luxury that is Mariano may not be found with an assortment of relievers signed from the open market. I like the idea of Chamberlain doing his Teddy Pendagrass "Close the Door" routine for a couple of years.

 

Who are the free agent starting pitchers?
Who are the pitching options from the farm system?

Joba is the answer for starter. You can create a poor man's Rivera from someone that doesn't have the stuff to start. You don't need to take a potential number 1 or 2 starter and create Rivera.

Relievers are important, but they aren't near as important as a starter.

 

Part of the reason for the Joba rules is the Yankees are treating this like a temporary move and want to get him back to being a starting pitcher next season. It seems more rare these days, but there are managers and organizations that like to allow stud pitching prospects to get their first taste of the majors as relievers.

The Twins did that with Johan Santana and Francisco Liriano. The Tigers did it with Joel Zumaya, though it looks like they are keeping him in the pen now. Jim Leyland has a history of it back to his days with the Pirates. He used John Smiley, who later became a 20-game winner, out of the bullpen for a season.

In Chamberlin's case, I think it is more a matter of needing him to help the current team. He's already too good not to be in the majors, but they are going to be careful with him. The thing people who question the Joba rules tend to forget is that the guy only worked as a reliever for a couple of weeks before being called up and the transition can cause arm problems if not handled properly (see Brett Myers with the Phillies).

The one concern I've heard about Chamberlin is keeping his weight under control. He apparently had some issues with this in the minors. I'm not sure how much truth there is to that. And for every Bobby Jenks, a minor-league starter who converted to the bullpen as he battled his weight, there is a guy like C.C. Sabathia who remained a starter despite a fluctuating wasteline.

 

Trenton's Alan Horne could be an option as a starter.

 

Next year:

1- Pettite
2- Wang
3- Hughes
4- Chamberlain
5- Mussina
6- Kennedy
7- Rasner
8- Ohlendorf
9- Horne
10- Karstens
11- Igawa

I don't think that they will sign a FA SP this off-season.

 

It's Chamberlain. C-H-A-M-B-E-R-L-A-I-N. Could you at least spell his fucking name right in the thread title?

 

How is Ian Kennedy looking?

 

Never seen him pitch, but apparently he's doing great since moving up to Scranton in 5 inning spurts - strict pitch count.