Joba The Starter?

Get rid of Mo and make Joba the closer. His slider is pretty much untouchable and plus the Yankees can just go sign some washed up starting pitcher to fill in his spot.

J.J. Putz has been great this year, but I wouldn't say he is the most dominant closer in all of baseball still. He needs to show consistency now.

White Sox, Pierzynski agree to 2 year extension through 2010.

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070929&content_id=2239176&vkey=news_cws&fext=.jsp&c_id=cws

Tons can go wrong by that logic. Remember, you have three young pitchers and an aging one. Plus, Moose fits nowhere into this. He won't just retire because he's blocking a youngster.

I say let the last two spots be won out of ST with Kennedy, Hughes and Joba. Maybe keep Joba as a reliever- I mean, that's a 7 inning game most of the year for the Yankees if they have the lead. Plus, I just don't think having three rookies in a rotation is smart. Injury, late season fatigue, or just straight up suck can happen. Luckily, the Yanks have fallbacks.

Rivera is a free agent. Everyone has him re-signing with the Yankees, but I can't imagine him taking anything under 4 years...which he'd get from somebody.....Are the Yanks prepared to do that with Joba sitting there???? Or would Rivera be willing to sign for just 3 years to stay in NY?????

It's a tough call. A 6 inning game is a valuable thing. Then again, so is a starter of Joba's caliber.

A 6-man rotation is actually a possibility. It would limit the young guys' innings and Pettitte and Mussina would benefit from the extra rest. About the only one it wouldn't help would be Wang. And of course there will be injuries, so then they'd just shift up to a 5-man rotation.

I believe the Yankee pen will be very good even without Joba. Ohlendorf is really flying under the radar but since his move to the pen he's been throwing in the mid to high 90s (up from 92), and his slider almost makes him look like Joba-light. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see him be the #1 setup man next year.

Vizcaino is solid, and as much as hurts me to say it, Farnsworth might have figured it out. He just started pitching from the windup and has been absolutely dominant. Who knows...

Anyway, the biggest problem with Joba as a starter is limiting his innings. As such, starting the season in the pen, then moving to the rotation might be best. But you could say the same thing about Hughes and Kennedy as well.

Anyway, it's a good problem to have.

The White Sox are a joke.

"Florida owner Jeffrey Loria said nothing will change "in the structure and day-to-day operations of the Marlins front office," "

Beinfest is promoted to president, Michael Hill named general manager.

I really want to see Joba get a couple starts in the ML, cause and chalk this up to hater/homerism if you want but out of 5 times I saw him pitch his slider wasn't thrown for strikes, and his fastball while 8 billion miles an hour is straight as a bullet. 2nd or 3rd time through an order and that is going to get solved, he will be a sick reliever if they keep him in that role.

"And fans/reporters don't seem to bring it up as if Papelbon might overhear and remember that he actually wants to start."

Its amusing that Papelbon is actually more ditzy or "Manny like" than Manny is.

I really want to know what all these 4 "dominating" pitches are.
1.Fastball
2.Slider
3.SLUTTER ?!?!?!
4.GYRO ?!?!?!

buerhlebro: "Moose fits nowhere into this." - I don't expect him to retire, but I do see him as expendable at this point.

I agree with you on being too heavy in young pitchers is a bad way for the Yanks specifically to begin a season. Perhaps Moose keeps a spot warm until next July? Hughes and Kennedy already gives them a better chance to win. Joba, who knows. But hence the post!

Lekman is right; Joba throws a major-league quality change-up and curveball. I don't think he's thrown the change-up in the majors(at least, not much), although you'll occasionally see him mix in the curveball early in a count. They're not dominating pitches in the way his slider and fastball are, but the change-up is average and the curveball's above-average.

This is what sets him apart from Papelbon; while Paps is certainly a great closer, he doesn't have the third or fourth pitch that you need to get through a lineup more than once or twice. Joba does, and it's a waste to not use that rare talent.

Lekman also hits on one of the two guys that really will be the next closer for the Yanks: Humberto Sanchez. Sanchez doesn't have the repertoire that Joba has, but he can throw it fast and well for short spurts, and that's what you need in a closer. (The other possibility is K-Rod, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it next season.) Ohlendorf's possible, too, as is Whelan, but I think the most likely guy in the system is Humberto.

Also: I wouldn't be shocked if the rotation next year starts out as Wang, Pettitte, Mussina, Hughes, Kennedy, while Joba gets a little more practice with his off-speed stuff in AAA and stretches his arm back out a bit. Then he comes up in May, and either he takes over for an injured rotation member or the Yanks trade Mussina to an NL team. It makes him not such a great fantasy guy, but it might be best for the Yanks.

I'm not really buying Ohlendorf as a viable late inning guy either. He's always had control issues, Kyle Farnsworth and Brian Bruney can both throw hard, but both have bad control, and Joe just doesn't trust either of them in the late innings, I think Ohlendorf is just going to be mop up/middle relief next season if he makes the roster at all.

After the Yankees drafted Hughes out of high school, they told him to stop throwing his slider to protect his arm. This year he was supposed to start throwing it again at AAA, but due to how quickly he got called up he didn't get to work on it much.

In his first two starts (pre injury) his fastball had more speed, and his curveball looked rather nasty (especially against Texas).

On the plus side, this month he's 3-0 with a 2.66 ERA, despite the weaker stuff. How many 21 years olds can compensate that well when pitching below full strength?

Yes make Joba a starter. Maybe he can duplicate Hughes' stellar season.

I don't think you can compare Ohlendorf the starter's numbers to those of Ohlendorf the reliever.

All I know is I've seen most of the innings he's thrown for the Yankees this year, and he's been borderline dominant. I keep saying Joba-light because that's what it's like: Great fastball with movement (but it's 94-97 instead of 98-100), and a great slider (but it's 85-87 instead of 89-91, with a bit less break). But he's made some hitters look absolutely foolish.

Of course it's a super small sample size, but I haven't seen any reason to worry about his control. I believe he's walked 1 in 7 innings, and he seems to be working consistently ahead in the count (if he wasn't, he wouldn't be getting as many strikeout on sliders in the dirt).

I think that today I would rather see him come into a close game than anyone other than Joba or Mo.

I'm actually a Yankees fan and even I don't feel very good about prospects for Edwar Ramirez, realistically.

He has a great changeup but he can't dominate with just it like Rivera's cutter. He has a below average fastball around 89-91 and nothing else really, can't throw the fastball for strike without absolutely getting pounded yet he has to throw the fastball to keep people from locking in on changeup so he nibbles on corners, resulting in a bunch of walks but also tons of strikeouts with his changeup, I think he's going to be mediocore unless he find another pitch or improve his fastball.

Reading these comments, I again don't see anyone addressing the two decisions that need to be made before figuring out what to do with Joba.

#1) What about the OTHER starters? Wang we know is one. Is Pettite picking up his option? Are Kennedy or Hughes definites for the rotation? Is Clemens gone for good? What about Mussina, who has a year left on his contract and a no-trade that he's VERY unlikely to waive (given that he wouldn't even talk to anyone but the Yankees before signing his deal)?
I don't know if the Yankeees already HAVE 5 starters, or NEED 1 or 2>

2) How many years are the Yankees willing to give Rivera? I see Yankee fans talking about giving him a 2-year deal as some sort of a gift. This guy is a premium free-agent who will be getting 4-year offers. Furthermore, Cashman loves his draft picks (for good reason)and probably wouldn't be heartbroken to see Mo go if it meant a couple more Chamberlains and Hughes were there for the taking in the draft. But then you need a closer.

E-ROC ... where was the gem in the bullpen this year? They had lots of arms but really no one that would excite you outside of Rivera (and of course, Chamberlin in the past month).

I'm not a big fan of the theory that if you have enough arms someone will emerge. You need quality not quantity. I just don't see that quality aspect right now. I'll bet you anything that the playoffs will prove my point. The Yankees will lose games because of their bullpen.