With pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training today, the New York Yankees already have very specific plans for rookie Joba Chamberlain this year, according to the New York Post.In an effort to keep him from exceeding 140 IP in '08, the Bombers want him to start the season as Mariano Rivera's set-up man. Then some time in June, they'll send him down to the minors so he can begin to train to become a starter. After about a month, they'll bring him back up and he'll join the rotation for the rest of the season.
Memo to New York: It won't be that easy.
It's not that hard to imagine the Yankees getting off to a hot start the first 60 games of the season, keeping pace with Boston in the AL East and with the Angels, Mariners, Tigers and Indians in the Wild Card race. With a new manager, the core of the team re-signed and injury-free, and a dynamite bullpen highlighted by Joba and Mo, it's not inconcievable that New York could go, I dunno, 36-24 by shortening most games to 7 innings then sending in their lights-out relievers for the last 6 outs. But I find it awfully hard to believe the Yankees will then destroy that bullpen continuity by sending Joba down and having him join the rotation. It wouldn't take more than 2 or 3 Kyle Farnsworth/LaTroy Hawkins meltdowns for the Pinstripers to realize they had a pair of aces and discarded one of them.
On the flipside, say Joba struggles as a set-up man. Does a promotion from the pen to the rotation all-the-sudden seem prudent? Usually it goes the other way- a starter flounders, then becomes a reliever. Or what if they send him down, and he stinks as a starter? Does he go back to the pen, back to the minors, or does New York punt every 5th game?
And on the other flipside (yes, there are at least three sides to this particular coin), say the Yankees don't start hot. Say Pettitte and Mussina show their age, while Hughes and Kennedy show theirs and New York is at a loss for arms. Do you think the Yankees will wait until more than a third of the season is in the books to make a move? I doubt it.
Simply put, the Joba Rules are too simply put to have a snowball's chance of panning out exactly the way the Yankees want.
2 comments:
On the fourth flipside, what if the gnats continue to have a mysterious attraction to Joba and they plague him from city to city? Will he ever be able to focus? Or will he sign a promotional deal with the folks at Deep Woods Off and give up on pitching all together?
I'm pretty skeptical of this idea as well. I really think the hope is that someone like Veras, Ohlendorf, Sanchez, or Ramirez will emerge as a competent setup man to replace him when he's sent down. I don't really see that happening. And I also don't see Mussina, Kennedy, or Karstens holding down the 4th and 5th spots in the rotation while waiting for another unproven pitcher to take over in July. This has the potential to be a disaster. Hopefully they score 10-12 runs a game.
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