No, that might be the conclusion based on your incorrect reading of my logic, but it’s not the conclusion at which any reasonable person would arrive.

I’m not saying Pettitte’s age or Wang’s recent injury history shouldn’t be taken into account. I’m saying it’s stupid to assert that the chances of Pettitte providing representative innings at his age and Wang coming back and providing representative innings are the same as the chances were that SHAWN FUCKING CHACON and AARON FUCKING SMALL would come in, in 2005, and provide incredible numbers and help save the team. Again… Aaron Small. AARON FUCKING SMALL.

You are really doing a bang-up job in this thread, today. Compelling stuff.

First of all, when they were acquired by the organization, none of Rivera, Pettitte, nor Wang were near the level of prospect that Joba, Hughes and IPK were. Rivera and Wang, in particular, are irrelevant to this discussion, as they were not the same types of prospects and didn’t make it through the minors until later in their careers. Andy Pettitte was a full-time MLB regular, in the rotation, in his age 23 season. Last year, when Hughes and Kennedy were penciled into the rotation, it was Hughes’ age 22 season and Kennedy’s age 23 season. This year, the first year that Chamberlain started the season in the rotation, is his age 23 season.

“I was speaking more in terms of how Cashman handled Hughes and Kennedy leading into the 08? season. The Yankees had no ace to lead the staff, they didn’t get Santana, and Hughes and IPK were promoted as if one of them were ready to be the next ace. They of course, failed to meet the unreasonably high expectations set by the Yankees front office and the media.”

Again, says YOU, not Cashman and not anyone else with the Yankees. They were penciled in as the 4th and 5th starters, not as some sort of savior-tandem to lead the rotation. You seem to be railing against media hype and mischaracterizing it as somehow the responsibility of the Yankees’ front office. The Yankees put Hughes and Kennedy into the rotation as the 4th and 5th starters. If the media over-hyped them and led you to believe they were put in the rotation because they’d be immediate Cy Young Award candidates, that’s on the media (and on those who bought into what the tabloids told them). It’s not on the Yankees.

“For this season, Cashman made clear that Joba was a 5th starter…”

Good… Agreed… So why is are we still discussing this?

“Joba hasn’t been awful but he doesn’t seem to be getting better and even Eiland is questioning his pitch selection and constant shaking off of the catchers.”

Again, agreed… Like I said, there’s reason to be concerned.

“Last week Joba set a record for the fewest decisions in 29 starts. You don’t think that should concern the Yankees?”

Ok… I hate when people say things like this… But did you actually read my comment that you’re responding to? I thought I was pretty clear that there is reason to be concerned with Joba’s performance so far this year. So, to answer your question, as I stated above… Yeah, there’s reason to be concerned.

“Still, I’m not blaming Joba. As I said earlier, I think he probably needed a little more seasoning in the minors before transitioning into the starting role.”

Seasoning? The guy DOMINATED the minors when he was there, then came up and dominated out of the bullpen, then was transitioned into the rotation and pitched about as well as could be expected as a 22 year old starter. It’s easy and it’s a knee-jerk reaction, when a young guy is struggling, to say “he should still be in the minors, he’s just not ready yet.” But this is a guy who was certainly ready when the decision was made to put him into the rotation. To paraphrase TSJC… Let the fucking burrito cook, dude. Players take time to develop. Sometimes they perform poorly for stretches. Maybe Joba is having some sort of physical problem, maybe he’s not. Maybe he’ll improve in the second half, maybe he either won’t improve or will just prove to not be the best option for that 5th slot in the rotation so he’ll eventually be sent down to the minors to get some innings and work in while someone else holds down the 5th spot for the Yanks. Whatever happens… This was a pitcher who was clearly ready for MLB experience when the Yankees put him into the rotation at the beginning of this season. Just because a player goes through a rough stretch doesn’t mean he was necessarily promoted too quickly. It’s called development, and it doesn’t always go as well as we hope.