Odds & Ends: Rays, Joba, Pettitte

Good.

Sending Joba to the minors to start is much smarter than placing him in the MLB bullpen if he struggles to start off the season.

And of course the Rays possess the chips to deal for a catcher; just which one is going to be available via trade.

Wow, the ESPN wonderboy that is the best pitcher since ever was about to be sent to the minors?

I couldn't imagine how ESPN could have spun that one to a positive.

I think the Yankees would do well to bring back Pettitte if he wants to pitch again.

If you look at that rotation you only have two 'sure' 200 inning pitchers. Who knows if Joba, Kennedy, or Hughes can give a full season or if Wang will ever pitch well again. I wonder if the Yanks would go after another proven AL frontline starter like Lackey, it's not like they haven't outspent others for top stars in the past...

I cut Joba a lot of slack.

I don't cut Yankee fans who told us that he is the greatest pitcher ever ANY slack. The off-season following his heroics from 2008 was just brutal. The comparisons to Johan and Halladay and Peavy were amongst the most annoying ever. Not directed to any posters here but if you want a taste of how absurd the comments were check out the archives.

I still think the kid can pitch and pitch really well. I just don't know if it will be as a starter. If he can't go more than 5 innings his value as a starter is really compromised. This year he went more than 6 innings a grand total of 6 times in 31 starts. He must go deeper into his starts. That means pitching to more contact and exhibiting better control.

At some point Mo will retire (who knows when - that guy is just a freak). Would be nice to know that Joba could slide into that role and provide the stability in the bullpen that the Yankees need.

Yeah but Kershaw has the same problem. They both have to show better control and a more deliberate approach to pitching. Those are thinhs within their control. The hitters aren't beating them, they are beating themselves. The reason he throws so many pitches is because he's nibbling and not being aggresive. Joba's a weird case. Most hard throwers start of throwing hard and then lose some mph by the 6th or 7th inning. Joba on the other hand starts out around 92-94 and starts hitting 95-97 the later in the game he goes. I don't know if that's bad game calling or what. If he learns to trust his stuff and can throw that FB for strikes in the mid 90's on a regular basis then he'll be fine. Start off with the FB and see what offspeed stuff you're commanding early and then give them a steady diet of FB's and a mix of the 2 or 3 offspeed stuff throughout the game. The Yanks can build a strong bullpen off of minor league arms with power. They can even sign a strong 8th inning guy like Gonzales or Soriano. But Joba and Hughes could be really solid FOR/MOR guys making next to nothing over the next 5 years and we should continue to work them into the rotation.

Does anyone really see Holliday as a $20 mil a year player?

When Joba was called up late
in 07 he had pitched only 88
innings in the minor leagues.
Compare that to Ron Darling
who said he throw over 400
innings in the minor leagues.
For the knuckleheads who don't know baseball Joba has to learn how to pitch and built up his arm strenght against major league ballplayers.He is still only
23 years old give the kid a
chance to develope and lets see what happens.

Does anyone really see Holliday as a $20 mil a year player?

Posted by: YanksFanSince78 | October 11, 2009 at 04:07 PM

I do see him getting 20 million dollars in the open-market. If hes worth it is a different story.