Hot Stove Coal: Reviewing Yankees Worst Case Scenarios from 2010 Pt 2

Back in December we took a trip in the time machine back to last off-season and looked at how close the Yankees came to the "Worst Case Scenario" series we did last year. We started with Part 1 and the starting lineup. Well let's continue that with theme today with Part 2, which was the starting pitching staff. By then I realized that non-Yankee fans were taking a lot of joy in my scenarios but it didn't stop me from looking at what would go horribly wrong if the pitching staff fell apart. Let's see how close we got to that scenario:

AJ Burnett was a "black eye" for the Yankees (FanHouse)

CC Sabathia
What I said worst-case would look like: "Alex Fernandez after Marlins won the 1997 World Series...According to Baseball-Reference's Play Index, the hefty lefty is second in innings over the past two years, first in innings over the past three years, second in innings over the past four years, first in innings over the past five years, and over the last decade was 9th in innings pitched despite the fact he was a rookie in 2001. The worst case scenario are that all those innings goes to Sabathia's arm. The guy isn't doing himself a favor by eating so many Subway clubs and if CC fails in his ability to button his pants, it doesn't do the rest of his body any favors. Without CC, the Yankees truly have no ace and it puts a lot more pressure on the other guys."

What actually happened: Sabathia's arm and body held up another year's grind, starting an AL-leading 34 games, pitching 237.2 innings, and winning a Major League-leading 21 games. Sabathia was an All-Star, came in third in the Cy Young voting, and 13th in the MVP voting. He pitched about as well during the regular season as he did in his first year in Pinstripes (with less strikeouts but more groundballs). The issue for CC was when he hit the playoffs. After being stellar in 2009, he was so-so to bad in 2010. He started three times but only pitched a total of 16 innings, giving up a whopping 22 hits and 10 earned runs, striking out 15 but walking 7, hitting a batter, throwing a wild pitch, and being charged with a balk. Sabathia was a huge reason the Yankees made the playoffs (from August 7th-September 2nd he won every time he started), but for them to win the World Series in 2011, they need him to carry it through to the playoffs.

A.J. Burnett

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Which 1995-2010 Yankees Pitcher Would You Start in Game 7?

It's the World Series, Game 7, season on the line. You have a chance of choosing any Yankee pitcher from 1995-2010 and only have his resume on the Yankees to choose from. You have some great names on there: Coney, Key, El Duque, The Rocket, Andy, CC, etc. But you need to throw one guy out there for one very important game. I've been debating this all morning at work and over Twitter, but now it's time to put it out there on the blog: who would you take? Here are the candidates:

Sabathia dominated the Angels in the ALCS (USA Today)

CC Sabathia (B-R link)

It's a small sample size, but this may be my pick. Very few (if any) Yankee pitchers dominated a whole playoffs over three series. Overall he was 3-1 with a 1.98 ERA, striking out 32 and walking only 9. He dominated in the ALDS and ALCS and was very good in the World Series (though his record was 0-1). Sabathia's ALCS is what really puts him on this list as he absolutely dominated the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, going 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA, striking out 12, limiting the Angels to a .436 OPS against and going 8 innings in both his outings. Remember, though, that Sabathia came into last season with a reputation as a guy who couldn't cut it in October and while we're only going on their New York totals, this weighs quite heavily in a lot of people's minds. CC's total Win Probability Added (WPA) was 0.967 for the 2009 playoffs while FanGraphs clocks his FIP at 3.59 and his xFIP at 3.36.

From Twitter: @NYYEric: depends on if we get to choose the player as he was in that timeframe but I go with CC. (Andy close second)

Andy Pettitte (B-R link)

Certainly the sentimental pick of many (he was the runaway winner in my unofficial Twitter poll), but I'm wondering if he truly is the best pick. He's won the most series clinching games in history, but he also had his share of duds. In 11 ALDS series, Pettitte is 5-3 in 79.2 innings with a 3.73 ERA. In 7 ALCS series, he's 7-1 in 72.1 innings with a 3.73 ERA (and a 2001 ALCS MVP award). In 8 World Series, he's 5-4 in 77.2 innings with a 4.06 ERA. It all seems good, but there were some starts in there where he didn't even give his team a chance. His 1996 ALCS Game 5 and World Series Game 5 were great starts, but his World Series Game 2 in which he lasted only 2.1 innings and gave up 7 runs was not. In 1998, Pettitte was grat in the ALDS and World Series but he got bombed for 4 home runs in Game 3 of the ALCS. 1999 he breezed through the ALDS and ALCS but once again got bombed by Atlanta in the World Series. The problem was that when Pettitte really struggled (1997 ALDS, 2001 World Series, 2002 ALDS), the Yankees lost and he didn't even give them a chance to win. So would you like to have someone who keeps you in every game or one who looks like A.J. Burnett? Tough call. But overall, Pettitte was dominant with a 2.253 WPA in his first run of postseason stint in Pinstripes and a 0.833 WPA after he's returned from Houston. His 2009 postseason run where he won every single clinching game may have sealed this one for Pettitte in many people's minds.

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NYaT's Yankee Wishlist for the Trade Deadline

It's hard to "fix" a team that's on pace to win 104 regular season games, has the best record and run differential in baseball, and has won more games at home than Baltimore has in their entire season--but we're going to try. With the trade deadline fast approaching and Tampa Bay right on the Yankees' heels, I asked my fellow NYaT'ers what they think the Yankees need to do to put this group over the top. A compiled list of results below: 

Brett the Jet hitting #1 could help Yanks (Star-Ledger)

1. Move Brett Gardner to the leadoff spot. I'm not sure why this hasn't been done already, but I'm going to throw this out there as my personal "big fix" for the Yankees. The Yankees have argued that hitting him 9th gives them a "second leadoff hitter". Explain to me that logic? Why not just have him as your first leadoff hitter? Gardner is hitting .300/.397/.403 with a .372 wOBA and is on pace for almost 50 steals. Derek Jeter is having a down year, hitting .274/.338/.388 with a .324 wOBA which is just a tick under Juan Miranda's. And yet Jeter is unmovable from the leadoff spot while Gardner is left for the bottom 3rd of the lineup? The Yankees have been at a loss to find their #2 hitter since Nick Johnson went down with an injury early in the season, but I'm pretty sure their solution has just been hitting first. Imagine how much better the Yankees lineup would be with Gardner-Jeter-Tex-ARod-Cano-Posada-Swisher. Moving Swisher down creates more of a fluid lineup and will stretch their lineup even deeper. Gardner also gets on base vs. lefties (remember when the Yankees were worried about his right-handed caddy for Gardner instead of for Granderson) with a .391 OBP.

And here's another factor: Gardner leads the Major Leagues in pitchers per plate appearance at 4.61 (and by a lot). The last guy to even approach that number was Rickey Henderson's 4.55 in 1997. That many pitches makes the starter work harder and helps to tire him out faster. And, by the way, the last Yankee to have an OBP of at least .397 and steal 45 bases? Rickey Henderson in 1985. I'm not saying that Gardner is Rickey--but wouldn't you want to give him more plate appearances to find out?

Joba hasn't stepped up as the "Bridge to Mariano" (NYDN)

2. An upgrade in the bullpen. This is where my compadres and I differ in our opinions. I've seen the Yankees waste decent prospects on mediocre relievers just to theoretically get a small advantage before the trade deadline. I saw the Red Sox go out and get Eric Gagne in 2007. I'm just not a fan of the big fix reliever. I don't think they exist. You need a closer, and some solid guys in front and that's it, in my opinion. The Yankees could tweak that bullpen by calling back up Jonathan Albaladejo and Ivan Nova (and getting rid of dead weight guys like CHoP and Chad Gaudin). But others differed.

Paul said: "They don’t need to do much but the one issue is the bullpen. They need help, I just don’t know who. I would love Scott Downs but the Jays are asking too much. I don’t want them to trade any good prospects for middle relief so they should be careful. I also hope they don’t trade Joba."

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The Yankee Clipper: Starting Pitching

I was all ready to write today's Yankee Clipper on the Yankees starting rotation but then this weekend happened. A.J. Burnett punched something and had to leave the game with cuts on his hand Saturday and then Sunday and Andy Pettitte left early yesterday with a groin strain that will keep him out at least the rest of the month. So maybe the Yankees outfield, infield and catcher/DH posts seemed easy in comparison to the status update I'll now do for their starters. But here we go into the starting rotation:

1. Andy Pettitte. Yesterday's game marked the first time that Pettitte didn't go 5 innings in a start this season and in those 18 starts, he's only given up more than 4 earned runs once (6 against the Rays in May). Pettitte came into yesterday 11-2 (league-leading .846 winning percentage) with a 2.70 ERA and I don't think it is much of a stretch to say that he's been the Yankees' most consistent starter so far this season. So then the starter that the Yankees have counted on so much this season (the team is 15-3 in games he starts) left early with a groin injury. Yankees' General Manager Brian Cashman estimates that Pettitte will be out 4-5 weeks, but the injury expert, Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus, thinks that may be overly cautious and thinks that Pettitte will be back the second of August. Before the injury, Pettitte was on pace for 20 wins and had his lowest American League ERA since 1997--but he was also on pace to throw 205 innings for the first time since 2007. Yankees fans remember that in 2008 Pettitte had arm troubles so if there is one silver lining for the Yankees, it is that Pettitte will be well-rested down the stretch. But that is of little consolation to the Yankees who are without the AL All-Star Pettitte for a while now. Pettitte has been exceptionally good in 2010 at limiting the amount of hits against him and decreasing the amount of walks he issues, though the former may be somewhat due to luck--Pettitte's .274 BABIP is well-below his career .314 and his 3.97 FIP and 4.06 xFIP reflects that fact. But Pettitte has produced results so far for the Yankees. According to FanGraphs, some of it is due to his cut fastball and curveball being more effective than they've been in years and ditching the slider (which was a bad pitch for him in 2009). The Yankees must be pretty upset right now they didn't get Cliff Lee and they hope that Andy is Dandy for them again soon. If the Yankees can get Pettitte back by the second week in August and have him for the stretch drive, I think they'd take that. Pettitte is usually his best in the second half and the Yankees need the 2001 ALCS MVP to defend their World Series title. Best Month: April 3-0, 2.12 ERA, 25 K, .602 OPS against.
2. A.J. Burnett. If the Yankees hadn't been winning the past two years, you have to imagine that people would be getting a bit more upset with Burnett's performance in Pinstripes. Last year he had an up-and-down season where he dominated at times but led the league in walks and wild pitches showing that other times he was all over the place. The only thing that Burnett is consistent in is his inconsistency. 2010 started out well for Burnett but has seen him dip to a losing record, an ERA pushing 5, and a Major League worst 12 hit batters. He's allowed no earned runs in 5 starts but he's also allowed 6 or more earned runs 6 times. Through the end of May, Burnett was 6-2 with a 3.28 ERA. Since, the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde act has gone to the dark side as he's 1-6 with a 8.15 ERA and .965 OPS against in his past 8 starts. His last start ended early after his punching incident which he blamed on "falling" originally before being caught. I love the pies he brings and his swagger at times on the mound, but Burnett's lack of maturity at times is disheartening and his inability to compose himself is frustrating. Carroll writes about Burnett: "Burnett is certainly not the first pitcher to do something stupid. The meme of a pitcher hitting something with his pitching hand is so strong that it's a full scene in Bull Durham. Burnett cut his hands on a plexiglass lineup holder. Burnett is expected to be back for his next start, though there are some whispers that there could be a push-back if he doesn't make his throw day and show that the cuts won't be an issue." Not exactly what the Yankees were looking for from their #2 starter coming into the season. Burnett's problem is that when he's bad, he's really bad. In his wins, Burnett holds opposing hitters to a .191/.251/.231 line and in his losses it jumps to .363/.453/.701--meaning that in his losses, Burnett isn't even giving his team a good chance to win. Most disturbing for me about Burnett though is about in his results on the field where we've seen his K/9 drop from 9.56 in 2007 to 9.39 in 2006 to 8.48 in 2009 to only 6.71 this season. That's a big concern for the Yankees as Burnett's true value comes from his ability to finish guys off after he gets himself into jams. There is still some debate about whether this inability to gets misses with the bats are due to lost velocity or just not being able to locate the curveball as R.J. Anderson of FanGraphs suggested a month ago. But whatever is the culprit, this is not good news for the Yankees who are still on the hook for 3 more expensive years of Burnett after 2010. Best Month: April 3-0, 2.43 ERA, 20 K, 1.200 WHIP, .660 OPS against.

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My All-Star Team: American League Pitchers

We've tackled the hitters from the American League and the hitters from the National League, now we'll try to tackle the American League pitching. There's only one qualification: starters need to qualify for the ERA title. Let's go through process of elimination to fill out the rest of our team which will include 8 starters and 5 relievers.

Starters: 55 starting pitchers qualify for the ERA title. We need to whittle that 55 down to 8 so let's start by cutting all pitchers with an ERA that isn't under 4.50. It's not the best statistic to start out with since it eliminates hard-luck guys like Gavid Floyd (4.80 ERA but 3.47 FIP), Luke Hochevar (4.96 ERA but 3.86 FIP) and Brandon Morrow (4.50 ERA but 3.43 FIP). It also eliminates such big names as A.J. Burnett (5.25 ERA), Ben Sheets (5.01 ERA), Jake Peavy (4.71 ERA), John Lackey (4.69 ERA), and Mark Buehrle (4.58 ERA). Some of them may have some great peripheral statistics and just have gotten burned, but if you have an ERA of 4.50 or above, you're not an All Star in my book.

Now we're down to 30 pitchers. Next we'll eliminate anyone whose winning percentage is less that .450 and haven't won more than 5 games. That gets rid of Zack Greinke (3-8), Dallas Braden (4-7), Jeremy Guthrie (3-9) and Jeremy Bondermon (4-5). Greinke is a tough loss here, but at 3-8, it's tough to convince me he's an All Star. I know that Win-Loss record is not a good metric to go on, but the truth is that despite Greinke or Braden's great pitching, their teams haven't won enough games to get them to the All-Star game. 26 left.

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NYaT Roundtable: Joba, Hughes and the 5th Starter Debate

You know that your team is going into a season with few question marks when you get into a heated debate about who the 5th starter is going to be. But that's where we are in Yankee-land. It's not a small issue either--with Andy Pettitte and Javier Vazquez reaching free agency after the season ends, the Yankees may need to fill quite a few slots behind CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett. And with the workload that Sabathia has undergone the past few seasons and the health question marks surround Burnett, this is not a small issue. But I wanted to throw it out there to my friends and blog contributors and see what they think. So we started a roundtable debate on Joba and the 5th starter role. I thought it was a wonderful idea by Pinstriped Bible and I thought we could continue the debate

The Yankees 5th starter debate is not just Joba Chamberlain vs. Phil Hughes but where the rest of the group fits in. Here's what resulted (started on Friday night):

--Andrew: Everyone knows where I stand on this issue because I've written about it before: let’s let Joba, rule-less, go through an entire regular season and see if he can duplicate the success he showed last year before they jerked him around with Joba Rules III. Before they willy-nilly instituted those rules, Joba showed flashes of brilliance, going 7-2 with a 3.58 ERA and dominating in three starts right after the All Star Break. The Yankees then pulled the rug out from under him and he struggled mightily in his mishmosh of a role. I rather give it to Joba and see what he can do over an entire season than give it to Phil Hughes who may be able to throw a max of about 125 innings.

I'll open the floor, though: what do you guys think?

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3 Reasons The Yankees Need To Make Joba the 5th Starter

Has any pitcher who was so young created so much controversy, debate and intrigue? Joba Chamberlain went through the hyped up prospect stage, the dominant reliever stage, the midge incident, an injury, the starter/reliever debate, many iterations of the "Joba Rules", back-and-forth between the bullpen and rotation, and the guy is only 24 and just won his first World Series ring. I figured that after all the crap that the Yankees have put Joba through, that 2010 would be the year they let go of the Joba Rules, let him air it out, and see what happens. So I was very disappointed to see John Harper's New York Daily News article today which basically makes it seem that the Yankees feel Joba should be a reliever. Ugh. So let's go one more time through why Joba needs to be a starter with 3 easy-to-follow reasonings:

1.  When he was really a starter in 2009, he was very good. Joba was rolling along through the end of July when the Yankees decided it would be a good idea to screw with his schedule and change the amount of innings he threw. I understand the thought behind it--keep him under a certain amount of innings--but the execution made no sense. Joba is a pitcher who is all about rhythm with his pitching. When he's in a groove, he rears back, throws, gets the ball back and repeats. When he's off, he's walking around the mound, shaking off the catcher, laboring, and nibbling at the corners. The Yankees basically found the best way to screw up that rhythmic success he had developed. Joba's last three starts before the end of July were 6.2, 7.0 and then 8.0 innings long, he pitched 100 pitches in each and gave up a total of 2 earned runs (0.83 ERA). He held opponents to a dominant.114/.222/.200 line and looked very much like the pitcher we all wanted him to be. And then the Yankees pulled out the rug from under him. Let's look at his stats before and after July from Baseball-Reference:

• Before: 20 starts, 7-2, 3.58 ERA, 110.2 IP, 105 H, 44 ER, 50 BB, 97 K, 13 HR, .254/.347/.403 vs
• After: 11 starts, 2-4, 7.52 ERA, 46.2 IP, 62 H, 39 ER, 26 BB, 36 K, .316/.397/.515 vs

And here's how that looked month-by-month:

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The Yankees Need More Vitamin CC (AJ and Andy, too)

The Yankees would love to just pitch their top 3 pitchers in the World Series. They may just not be able to do so. The days off line up differently than the ALCS and that means that if the Yankees want to use only three starters, they're going to have to use all of them on short rest. And while that's worked for CC Sabathia, many people don't know if they can do it for A.J. Burnett or Andy Pettitte. I say, go for it: more CC, more AJ, more Andy.

There is a reason you wouldn't want to pitch Sabathia, Burnett, and Pettitte on short rest in the series. Sabathia has already thrown as many innings as last year and has thrown the most in baseball by a wide margin over the last 3 years. Pettitte had arm troubles at the end of the past two seasons and Girardi's quick hook with him may have to do with durability as much as performance. And A.J. Burnett is an excitable guy who may not be able to handle with getting his already shaky control under control on short rest.

I say go for it anyways. The Yankees alternatives are Chad Gaudin (who has pitched 2.1 innings in the past month), Joba Chamberlain (who has been moved to the bullpen and may not be stretched out enough any more), or Alfredo Aceves (who has had one start all season and the aftermath has been awful). If the Yankees have a rainout tonight they may need to use one of them. If Burnett and/or Pettitte are ineffective in their first start, they may want to use one of them. I think the Yankees just need to go with what has worked.

The Yankees starting pitching, a question mark coming into the playoffs, has been the best of the postseason. FanGraphs points out that out of the 59 innings pitched, 48 of them were thrown by Sabathia, Burnett, Pettitte, and Mariano Rivera. The Yankees have a formula that has worked, and worked pretty much to perfection.

It's four wins to the title. Then the pitchers can rest all off-season. You need them to give you 6 solid innings and then turn it over to bullpen. I say you ask them to rear back, give whatever they have left, and if you get beat, at least you got beat with your best.

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The New York Times wonders if maybe the Yankees should use Sabathia on regular rest and then use him when needed as a lefty specialist out of the bullpen (since, as Baseball Musings points out, Howard doesn't hit lefties too well). Rob Neyer likes this idea, but thinks it's too radical and not necessary for the Yankees.

Joba vs. Hughes: Who is a Better Reliever?

As we come to the end of the year, I think it's finally time to look back at the set-up terms of Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes to see who performed better:

Joba Chamberlain: 3-2, 1 save, 1.53 ERA, 49 games, 59 innings, 39 hits (11 XBH), 2 HR, 20 BB, 78 K, 1.000 WHIP, 11.9 K/9, 3.90 SO/BB, .185/.259/.261 slashes against

Phil Hughes: 5-1, 3 saves, 1.24 ERA, 42 games, 50.2 innings, 28 hits (4 XBH), 2 HR, 13 BB, 64 K, 0.809 WHIP, 11.4 K/9, 4.92 SO/BB, .160/.218/.211 slashes against

I know it's a small sample size, but I think that Phil Hughes has been an even better reliever than Joba (as amazing as that is for some people to believe). And if you take their ALDS performance in 2007 when both pitched out of the bullpen, Hughes climbs even more.

More on Joba:

• Jack Curry compares the Joba Rules to Justin [Verlander] Rules. The big difference? Verlander was 26 and already had built up the innings. Joba is 24 and is still building up arm strength.
• Rob Neyer writes that Joba sealed his ALDS fate with last night's start. Though I have to disagree with Rob that Joba shouldn't pitch in the series. Can he not be a help for the bullpen with the numbers he's put up in the past two years working out of there?
• Before Joba's start against the Red Sox, Sweeny Murti asked if the Yankees had ruined Joba. I agree with Sweeny when he says that Joba's 24; let's see what happens with him. Look at Zack Grienke's career path before you declare Joba "ruined".
  
• After watching him pitch well against the Red Sox, Sam Borden wrote that Joba responded to a stern approach. I believe this is how the Yankees should have treated Joba all along. The Yanks got into trouble handing spots to Joba, Hughes and Ian Kennedy last season. They need to be a little less nuturing and a little more firm.
• Within this piece, Peter Gammons says that Joba is important to the Yankees run in the postseason because he could make two Game 4 starts.
  

More on Hughes:

• Bob Klapisch tells you how Phil Hughes has become the 8th inning wonder: Mariano Rivera's cutter. This can only help Hughes as he transitions back to starter next season as Hughes' biggest problem seemed to be the lack of a third pitch.
  
• IIATMS breaks down "The Amazing Phil Hughes" even further. I have to admit that some of that goes way over my head, but it's really interesting the amount of statistical analysis there is out there.
• New York Magazine does a Yankee playoff preview of Phil Hughes and correctly points out he's the last man to win a playoff game for the Yankees (image from that article). There is one place I have to argue with NYMag about: "If a closer is critical to postseason success, then it stands to reason that the man responsible for getting him the ball is pretty important, too." Yes, that man is called your STARTING PITCHER!
  

I know this will drive certain people wild (I can think of a certain WFAN radio host...), but Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain will most probably both be starters next season. Let's just hope that Hughes can carry over the success of his relief stint better than Joba has recently. They're both really young and their success as dominant relievers should excite you for their future as (hopefully) dominant starters.

Jose Veras and 2-0 and 2-1 Pitches Are Most Important

Think the first pitch is the most important? Or maybe that 1-1 pitch? Nope. According to my research, the most important pitches are the 2-0 and 2-1 pitch. I looked at the data based on the count for every game played in 2009 through last Thursday, May 28th (found here in this Google Docs Spreadsheet).

The most amazing part of the research was the idea of first pitch strikes. As a pitcher, you're actually better off throwing a ball then laying one over and letting the batter put the ball in play. So the idea of just throwing strikes on the first pitch is an overrated one; throwing first pitch strikes is what you're looking to do as a pitcher. The subtle difference is you want to make sure that it's not just throwing a ball over to get a strike.

Now is where I need to harp on the idea that Jose Veras can't be on this team. The OPS against Jose Veras on the first pitch is just under 300 points greater than the league average. He walks a lot of guys, but when he doesn't, he lays over fastballs on the first pitch. The Yankees have a lot of arms in the minor leagues. Someone needs to understand how to pitch a little better than Jose Veras, no?

Tonight Proves Joba Belongs In the Bullpen

I was reading online some people that feel tonight was vindication that Joba Chamberlain should be in the starting rotation. I think it's the opposite. He should be in the bullpen. Tonight proved that and let me explain to you why.

First of all, he only pitched 3.2 perfect innings. 3.2?!?! What type of durability is that? David Cone pitched 9. David Wells pitched 9. Don Larsen pitched 9. Joba can't even go 4. Even Mike Mussina went 8.2 perfect innings one time. But he never won a World Series (sensing a theme??). Joba is 23 and should have proven himself by now more than this! If he's not a dominant front-line starter now, when is he ever going to be?

Listen, I don't care what you say about "starting pitching winning championships", Mike Francesa and I agree that the most important thing a team can have is a dominant middle reliever. In 1996, the Yankees won the World Series and Mariano Rivera was the set-up man. What's more scary? A dominant frontline starter or knowing that Joba is sitting in the bullpen.

We can move him off of starter because we have other options. Even if Hughes or Wang suck, we have Kei Igawa. I think he was the minor league pitcher of the year last year. And we have Cassey Fossum. He was once traded for Curt Schilling and Curt Schilling is a great playoff pitcher. But Joba can't be Curt Schilling as a starter. Curt Schilling would have gone at least 9 innings today. Only 8 for Joba? What type of front-line starter is that?!

So here's how it would go: Hughes for 5 (or "UZE" as I like to pronounce it), Joba (or "Jobber") for the 6th, 7th, and 8th, and The Great Mariano for the 9th. Joba could pitch 3 innings every day. So you're claim that he's more valuable pitching 200 innings as a starter is bogus. Pitching 3 innings every day, he would throw 486 innings. Now tell me what's more valuable? Pitching 200 innings or 486 innings?

Also, if he was in the bullpen, he'd be pitching less innings a game which would give him less chance to give fistbumps. And who wants to see that unprofessional display of emotion on the mound? I rather a guy not care about pitching than do that crap. That's not the Yankee way. Plus he's too emotional to be a starter. What if he cries on the mound? What will happen then? THERE IS NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!

Where was I? Oh back to Joba in the 'pen. Listen, now Sweeny Murti agrees with me. And it has nothing to do with the fact that Mike talks his ear off every day about it. It's about being logical. Mariano Rivera is 39 years old. Let me repeat that: 39 years old. He's FINISHED! Who is going to replace him when he's done later this year? And what about Boston? If Joba is in the bullpen we can use him against Boston because we can't have a reliever near 100 out there against the Sox. He gave up the game in April. APRIL! What is he going to do in October if he can't seal the deal in April? We need a ready replacement.

What you don't understand is that it's not about the statistics; I don't care about stupid facts! What I care about is intangibles! That's why Derek Jeter is such a great player! Do you see those jump throws he makes? Imagine now that we not only have Jetes' jump throws but Joba scaring people in the bullpen. I don't care that Jobber has an ERA of 3.20 since he's become a starter. What does that prove? It's only statistic! Oh...and what does Nick Swisher know about the "Joba-meter definitely leaning towards starter"? The guy has a mohawk!

But here's why tonight proved it to me. I don't care that he hasn't been throwing hard in the first innings and that may be important as a reliever (he'll be able to turn the switch...he's done it before!!!!!), but just look at his 8th inning tonight. Joe Girardi is grooming him for the 8th inning by pitching him there tonight. Joba looked great as a set up man tonight, pitching a beautiful 8th inning, 1-2-3, and hitting 98 on the radar gun. All that counts is the 8th inning! And tomorrow he should be there and end this travesty! Now get me a Diet Coke so I can tell you why Mike Francesa and I don't like the New Yankee Stadium.


(if you didn't realize already, I'm totally kididng)