Please End The Joba Debate

So I decided that it was time to open up the blog to some great minds. So we're going to have some guest bloggers here, all to prepare you for my 2 week absense in 23 days as I head to the Land Down Under (you better take, you better take, cover).

Our first guest blogger will be Benjamin Wolinsky (known on this blog as Wolinsky or WoWo). He's a 24-year-old technology expert from Albany, New York (and single ladies!). During the summer you can see him keeping score at Yankee games in his Bernie Williams jersey and during the winter you'll see him--bundled up--rooting on Big Blue in the Dirty Jerz. He now resides on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in his bachelor pad. Here is his post:

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Let's end the Joba debate for a while. The Yankees intend for Joba Chamberlain to be in their rotation when spring training ends, plain and simple. This will not change simply by calling WFAN multiple times a day to state your preference that he pitch the late innings of games out of the bullpen. I understand how great a reliever Joba can be – I witnessed it firsthand. But it's time that those opposed to his return to starting pitching begin to embrace Joba's current role (I repeat, RETURN to starting pitching, since he has been a starting pitcher for almost his entire career):

1-The Yankees played some of their best baseball in 2008 while Joba was a starting pitcher. Prior to Chamberlain's first start, the Yankees were 28-29. As a member of the starting rotation, the team compiled a record of 33-22 and the team went 8-4 in games started by Chamberlain. Over the next 30 days, while Joba was out with injury, the Yankees went 14-15. In my opinion, Chamberlain's impact on the team while pitching as a member of the starting rotation cannot be denied and the bullpen even performed well in his absence from it. He instilled confidence in the rest of the starting rotation and offense, both of which had performed inconsistently early in the season and had suffered severe losses due to injury.

2-Joba pitched like a dominant front-of-the-line starter while in the rotation. Chamberlain made 12 starts for the Yankees, going 3-1 with a 2.76 ERA. He threw 65.1 innings, allowing 60 hits, 25 walks, and struck out 74 batters (mind you that he didn't pitch enough innings to qualify for a win until his 3^rd start). These are numbers that we have not seen out of a Yankees starting pitcher in quite some time. If we've learned anything over the past several years, it is that young, hard-throwing pitchers are particularly hard to come by and they can play a deciding role in a team's performance. This factor cannot be discounted.

3-Joba needs us to support him as a starting pitcher, because he will be a starting pitcher: period! When he has a bad game, don't let that serve as evidence that he isn't fit to be a starting pitcher. Even more important, when he pitches a great game, don't let that be an indicator that his talent is being wasted in the starting rotation. If he suffers an injury, don't attribute it to his role as a starting pitcher, especially when he has spent almost his entire career in that role. We already know how great he is – that is a given. Let's appreciate the fact that unlike most teams, we can roll out a dominant pitcher ever 4 days.

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Thanks to WoWo for that one. Leave some comments for him below. Paul and I debate Joba at work all the time, but at this point I won't even concede there's another side of the argument. If you have someone who is that dominant, do you want him pitching 200 innings a year or 60 innings a year? And if you believe Joba should be in the bullpen because we need him at certain points late in the game, maybe we should just make A-Rod a pitch hitter for the same reason. The fact, though, is that Joba will probably be in the bullpen at some point this year when his innings start getting too high (hopefully in the playoffs). But I totally agree with Ben: no matter how dominant Joba is as a setup man, he should be a starter henceforth and forever.

Hopefully we'll get some more guest posts soon! If you have something on your mind, let me know at Katz@NoYoureATowel.net