Except, you know, for that one huge fact that Joba has been a dominant starter already. That fact trumps the other “facts” that the Joba-to-the-pen crowd want to use. By far.

The fact that Joba has been a starter and a dominant one means he should be a starter and we should keep him on track to be a starter FOREVER. I used to say that I’d need to see maybe three or four more solid years of Joba not being physically able to throw 200 innings in a season before I gave up on him as a starter. Now, that’s not enough. I don’t want to see him move to the bullpen until he’s on the tail end of his career, Terry Mulholland and Rick Aguilera style.

Think about this: Curt Schilling was (besides a massive douchenozzle) one of the truly great pitchers of our generation, and he helped the Diamondbacks and Red Sox win three titles this decade. If Mike Francesa was the GM of the Phillies, Curt Schilling would have been converted into Troy Percival long before he ever had the chance to become Curt Schilling.

Would you rather have Curt Schilling or Troy Percival?

Anyway, my point was the facts as they stand right now actually back up Mike’s side of the argument. Now just because Joba hasn’t done it yet doesn’t mean he cant or never will, but by taking that tact that puts him on the side of the facts and us on the side of speculation. Solid argument on his part. I still thinks its wrong, but he’s on solid ground.

FWIW.

http://www.thebaseballcube.com.....lain.shtml

Notice something? He’s never pitched more than 118 innings, and that was in his first year at Nebraska. The next year he was hurt, the year after the Yanks wanted to keep his innings down (and protect him from Torre). This year he was hurt again, and on an innings limit.

The fact remains most 23 year old starters have thrown 150-175 innings by now, and Joba has yet to show he’s able to. He hasn’t done it yet.