Where'd All Those People GoWho Wanted Joba In The Pen?

You don't waste your best arm in one-inning relief.

Joba Chamberlain has thrown 18.1 innings since becoming a starting pitcher for the Yankees. Over that period, he has 19 strikeouts, 14 hits allowed and a 2.45 ERA. Considering the fact that today was the first time Chamberlain had been giving a full slate of pitches to work with, it would appear the "Chamberlain belongs in the pen" crowd have meekly scurried off to their holes.

Excluding two intentional walks, Chamberlain has handed out 10 free passes to the 19 punchouts he's issued as a starter. Although he needs to bring down his walk rate, Chamberlain's superior strikeout ability and overall stuff covers up that wart nicely. This fact was emboldened today when Chamberlain escaped a bases loaded, zero-out jam without allowing a single run to score.

I guess that second inning situation would be better suited for Dan Giese - because Joba belongs in the eighth inning, even when there's no lead to protect. Had Giese or Rasner worked himself into similar trouble, the Yankees may have been pondering a 3-2 loss - their first in six games. Instead, Chamberlain refused to let in a run and a 2-1 victory kept a seven game winning streak alive.

As I stated when the transition to the rotation was first announced, Chamberlain's only big problem in the minors was conserving his pitches and remaining economical, which was somewhat evidenced today. Had he been on a longer leash, Chamberlain would have likely completed six innings of one-run ball and earned the W. Chamberlain is 22 years old and he will eventually learn to manage his pitchcount more effectively and do a better job of holding runners on.

In the mean time, however, a few poitns have been proven true:

1) Joba has frontline stuff.
2) That stuff is maintained deep into games.
3) He has the repertoire of five pitches [fastball, sinker, slider, curve, change] to succeed as a starter

So we will continue to wait for Fatso & Fruit Loops to admit they were wrong on this particular topic. I won't hold my breath, though.

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All Joba Chamberlain all the time:

Jayson Stark discusses Joba's transition with Curt Schilling and Tom Gordon - two pitchers who began in the big league bullpen before moving into the rotation. Orel Hershiser also give his two cents.

ESPN also has an Onion-esqe satirical piece on Joba's first start.

Yankees beatwriter Bryan Hoch gives his take.

A Star Ledger columnist looks into the Joba "hype machine."

Joba Will Start Tuesday At Home

Joba Chamberlain will make the first major league start of his career this Tuesday at home against Toronto. As luck would have it, Chamberlain draws Blue Jays ace, Roy Halliday, which will surely make it a tough test for the 22 year-old.

Reportedly, Chamberlain will be limited to 65-70 pitches Tuesday then move up to 75-80 pitches and 85-90 pitches in his next two starts.

[HT to Matt]

'King' Of Inaccuracy Says Joba Will Start Monday Or Tuesday

From the NY Post's George King comes the opinion that Joba Chamberlain's first career big league start will come on either Monday [at the Twins] or Tuesday [against Toronto].

As of late afternoon, Joe Girardi and Cashman were undecided whether Chamberlain would start Monday or Tuesday. Because Monday's game is against the Twins at the Metrodome and would provide a calmer setting than Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium against the Blue Jays, and because it would provide Andy Pettitte with an extra day of rest when he goes Tuesday, that seemed a stronger option.

Chamberlain would most likely be on a pitchcount of around 75 in either case.

Newsflash, Joba To Become StarterGirardi: "The Process Has Started"

By July 1, a Nebraskan fireballer will be starting games every fifth day for the Yankees. As this blog and several other Yankee sites had been confidently asserting since spring training, Joba Chamberlain is to become a starting pitcher in 2008.

Now it's official as Joe Girardi told Kim Jones after the game, "The process has started."

It was pretty evident that the process had begun once Chamberlain threw four or five changeups in the two innings he pitched during an 8-0 blowout victory Wednesday night.

As soon as I saw the 80 mph radar readings and the solid fading downward movement of his change I knew Joba to the Rotation had begun. The only guy on the YES telecast not observant enough to recognize it was Michael Kay as John Flaherty and Singleton read the handwriting on the wall.

Mark Melancon and JB Cox and Dan McCutchen and Dave Robertson just got a whole lot closer to the majors - even though they currently remain at their respective AA and AAA levels.

It will be extremely entertaining to hear the NY radio talk circuit munch on this for hour after hour. It will be just as fun to see how clueless some of these personalities are regarding the minor league prospects moving towards the back of the bullpen.

Just a bit of advice. If any writer, radio host or ESPN analyst states names like Farnsworth or Hawkins as Joba's longterm replacement as the setup man feel free to disregard them as having any knowledge about baseball for the remainder of your sports-watching life.

Sherman: Scouts: Joba Is A StarterNo *Bleep*

Today's Joel Sherman space in the NY Post cites several scouts who, like most of have been screaming from the get-go, believe Joba Chamberlain is a #1 type starting pitcher in the big leagues.

Scout A says:

The times I saw him, he was an easy-identification No. 1 starter. He was powerful and resilient. He went deep into games and used all four of his pitches. That is what impressed me most about him. He would strike out 2-3 guys in a row with a fastball, then go 2-2 and throw a plus-potential change.

I will tell you what I think on this kid. You put him in a playoff game, and when he leaves it is going to be 1-0 or 2-1. The score is going to be low for the other side. He was a dominant No. 1 guy in the minors. I left the stadium and said, "What else do you want in a starting pitcher?" I saw (Jonathan) Papelbon in the minors....Chamberlain as a starter was better than Papelbon. He had more options. He threw harder. Papelbon was 92-94 (mph) as a starter. His second pitches were all average.

Scout B says:

I thought he was the best player in the Yankees organization, the No. 1 prospect. He was lights out. He had a plus-fastball, nasty slider and a good curve, and a pitchable change. He held his stuff for seven innings. The thing that concerned me is there is a lot of effort in that delivery.

AA Reading Phillies Pitching Coach, Tom Filer says:

I was very impressed. The first couple of innings he was 94-96 (mph). By the fifth inning, he was 97-99. His slider was very impressive. I liked the action on his breaking ball. I only saw those two pitches, the fastball and slider. On this given day, we had no shot (against him). This guy can do anything. He might not be as refined as (Josh) Beckett the first time I saw him at 19 or 20 years old. But with Joba Chamberlain, I saw more power."

Scout C Says:

For me, he was a top-of-the-rotation guy. I have had a long-running debate in my head between Chamberlain and (Phil) Hughes. As far as stuff, I think I wrote him up as a No. 3 with upside. He pitched at 94-96 (mph). But the one thing is he threw seven innings and he maintained velocity. I saw him throw 98 in the seventh inning. He could step it up when he needed. I remember one time he was pitching at 94 and it was either the sixth or seventh inning and two guys got on with one out, and he did not throw another pitch at less than 97. [Chamberlain and Hughes] were both in my mind top-of-rotation guys without hesitation.

For me, he is a starter. There are a lot of guys who can do that set-up role.