The spring is still young, but Joba concern abounds

We’ve long made our feelings known about the NYC sports media in general and the New York Post in specific. Even more specifically, we tend to take issue with George King, whose seemingly made-up rumors fly in the face of reason. However, we also give credit where credit is due, and in his recent article about Joba he makes a few valid points. Namely, that Joba’s velocity, while acceptable at this point, isn’t quite what it’s been in years past. Should that concern the Yanks?

Surprisingly, King doesn’t turn this into a Joba-to-the-bullpen lovefest, as one might have expected. Instead, he notes that this is early spring and for some guys, especially young guys trying to gradually build up arm strength, throwing with max effort just isn’t a good idea. He’ll make his first start on either April 11th or 12th, so he’s got plenty of time before he’ll need those mid-90s bullets. Might as well work your way into them, rather than throw them mid-March.

That doesn’t mean that everything is going splendidly for the 23-year-old. He’s taking the ball, which signals that he’s healthy, but his mechanics still need time to develop.

“With my fastball, my glove side, I am not getting totally out front and I’m cutting pitches off,” Chamberlain said. “But (my) arm slot was great and everything else I threw was for strikes, the change twice and the curveball.”

He’s also been working on the changeup, which is the last of his four-pitch arsenal to come around. That’s just as important as his fastball velocity, though King botches a Hillary Clinton analogy in the last paragraph trying to make the opposite point. Yes, Joba has showed mid-90s heat before, but his secondary pitches are what can make him a front-end starter. It’s good to see how hard he’s working on them this spring.

Bonus section:

Also from The Post, though I’m linking to the report on yankees.com because I don’t feel like searching through the Post’s website, three Yanks officials have said that Joba would move into the closer role should Mo be unable. Thankfully, that appears to not be the case. Mo has been progressing as normal this spring, despite his October shoulder surgery, and is on track to pitch the ninth inning starting April 6. So it appears there’s nothing much to it, though we do know the Yanks backup plan.