Archive for Joba Chamberlain
World Series hangover: Joba, Pedro and feelin’ good
Posted by: | CommentsThe Hot Stove League will soon heat up, but as a bright November weekend dawns in the City of New York, Yankee fans are still recovering from their collective World Series hangover. To that end, we have a few stories for your Saturday reading pleasure.
A World Series moment with the Chamberlains
It’s sometimes easy to forget that Major League Baseball players are young kids who are struggling to adjust to a world very unfamiliar to them. Subject to more debates over the last 2.5 seasons than any 24-year-old should, Joba Chamberlain has been growing up in the New York spotlight. Starter, reliever, overhyped or not, Joba has heard it all. When the Yankees won the World Series on Wednesday, Joba and his dad shared a moment captured by photographers and Yahoo! Sports’ Big League Stew author Kevin Kaduk.
The story is a great reminder about how baseball is about families. It’s about how baseball is about the people and how the players we analyze, the players we admire and the players some people criticize are, at heart, just people similar to you and me. At ‘Duk writes, baseball is always about a father having a catch with his son, and Joba and Harlan had the joy of sharing a baseball moment this week that doesn’t come around too often.
While Joba and Harlan had their hug, Pedro Martinez was feeling less than happy about the game. After his Game 6 defeat at the hands of the Yankees, Pedro tried to duck out on reporters. The media throng cornered him in the hallway, but he would speak only in Spanish to them. One fan taunted him with a chant of “Who’s your daddy?” but Pedro was clearly upset about losing the game. Beating Pedro made this World Series victory even sweeter.
For Tyler Kepner, 2009 marked his eighth season covering the Yanks and their first World Series under his watch. From World Series losses to 0-3 ALCS comebacks, it has been a tumultuous few years in Yankeeland, but as Kepner wrote on Wednesday night, this World Series restored a “peaceful, easy feeling” to the Bronx. No team has won more games in the 21st Century than the Yankees have and now they have their title to go with it. It has indeed been a peaceful time for Yankee fans.
Rethinking Girardi’s ALCS bullpen approach
Posted by: | CommentsFor 162 games this year, Joe Girardi had a fairly consistent bullpen approach. While the generally theory is to get the ball to Phil Hughes in the 8th and Mariano Rivera in the 9th, Joe had, through a series of mid-season auditions, figured out the best approach to the three or four outs in between the time when he removed his starting pitcher and when he brought in Hughes, and by the time early August rolled around, David Robertson had assumed the role.
Now, Robertson wasn’t given the role. He had to earn it. Early on in the season, Brian Bruney had that spot after losing the 8th to Phil Hughes, but Bruney couldn’t hold it down. After Bruney, the role was Alfredo Aceves’ to lose, and after a shaky July brought about by some shoulder pain, Aceves lost it. It was then that David Robertson earned that position of trust, and he quickly emerged as the Yanks’ third best reliever.
On the season, Robertson had some pretty impressive numbers. He struck out 63 of the 191 batters he faced, good for a K/9 IP of 13.0. Although he walked 4.7 per 9 innings, by year’s end, he had reduced that walk rate. In the 7th, he was just as good. He faced 30 batters in the 7th inning — a small sample size for sure — but struck out 12 of them and allowed just two 7th inning runs. By most accounts, he was the Yanks’ third best reliever in 2009.
And then we have Joba Chamberlain. As we know, on the year, Joba was less than consistent and not as effective as we hoped. Sporting a lower velocity that many believe came about after his August 2008 shoulder injury and less control than we had seen in the past, Joba threw 157.1 to mixed results. He had a 4.75 ERA and a K/9 IP of just 7.6. His walk rate was up, and opponents hit .274/.363/.439 against him. By season’s end, no one really trusted him.
No one, that is, except Joe Girardi. When the playoffs rolled around, the Yanks announced that Joba would be in the bullpen, and we waited to see how Girardi would deploy Chamberlain. After watching the last few games, now we know: Joba Chamberlain will pitch before Phil Hughes in a spot customarily reserved for the team’s third best reliever.
Needless to say, Joba has disappointed. He has faced 12 batters this postseason and five of them have hits. His fastball still is topping out at around 95 and his control, as we saw yesterday, is non-existent. Robertson, meanwhile, has faced 14 batters this season and just two of them have hits. He has allowed two others to reach, but those were on intentional walks. He pitched out of a bases-loaded, no-out situation against the Twins in the ALDS and was invaluable against the Angels during the Game 2 marathon on Saturday night.
As Girardi has gotten too cute with his pitching changes, as, in the words of Mike, he makes the game of baseball look harder than it actually is, it’s time to go back to what worked. The Bridge to Mariano should remain David Robertson in the 7th — Phil Coke is a lefty pops up — and then Phil Hughes. That approach worked during the regular season and probably would have given the Yanks a 3-0 lead yesterday. Joba hasn’t earned anyone’s trust, and should not be pitching in key situations in a close ALCS.
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As a postscript to Girardi’s approach last night: I know a lot of fans have bought the excuse that David Robertson did not match up well with Howie Kendrick. (For instance, see this defense of Girardi.) He still managed to overmanage though. If Robertson doesn’t match up well with Kendrick, then have D-Rob walk Kendrick to face Jeff Mathis, a batter who cannot handle a fastball for his life. Instead, in a tie game on the road, Girardi burned his best available reliever after all of 11 pitches. If Mathis still hits that game-winning blast, then fine. At least the Yanks go down with their best on the mound and not their 7th pitcher in 4.1 innings.
Jon Heyman wants Joba in the pen
Posted by: | CommentsSo who’s the first reporter seduced by 1.2 innings of ALDS work? Why, it’s Jon Heyman of course. In his latest Daily Scoop post, Heyman drops the following tidbit:
There is growing sentiment around baseball that Joba Chamberlain will be a reliever next year, especially after he looked great in that role in the Division Series.
Now, the skeptic in me says that this “growing sentiment around baseball” is none other than Heyman himself. He has long been an outspoken B-Jobber, firm in his belief that young Mr. Chamberlain is better suited for the bullpen than the starting rotation. The truth of the matter is that Jon Heyman’s opinion just doesn’t matter.
Let’s, though, assume that Heyman is telling the truth. Let’s assume that some anonymous people around baseball think that Joba will be a reliever next year. The truth remains that, well, their opinions just don’t count. Unless that sentiment comes from Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi, it doesn’t matter. The Yankees are committed to Joba the Starter, and no amount of media blustering can change that fact.
We can’t ignore the fact that Joba as a reliever is a tempting proposition. At the very least, he’s comfortable coming out of the pen and, despite early-season reports concerning his shoulder, he had no problems warming up to come on as a reliever during the ALDS match-up against the Twins. The real question though surrounds his stuff. How did he play as a reliever?
In terms of results, Joba mostly got the job done. He threw 1.2 innings over three games and allowed two hits and no runs. After struggling with the base on balls during the regular season, he walked none but struck out only one. His one hiccup came during Game 3. With out in the sixth and the Yanks clinging to a 2-1 lead, he came in and gave up a double to Delmon Young. At the time, I was surprised Girardi would go with Joba instead of Aceves or Coke, his usual 7th inning guys, but Joba got the next two outs to escape the inning unscathed.
On the stuff side of his apperances, Joba’s fastball and command were better than the regular season. In Game 1, he hovered around 94, but in Games 2 and 3, he nearly hit 97 with his fastball. He slider was around 89, and his one postseason curveball was at 82. So yes, Joba flashed the velocity and the breaking pitches.
But the truth remains that good starters make good relievers. Joba Chamberlain, despite his second half struggles, was not a terrible Major League Baseball starter. He threw 157.1 innings and didn’t get hurt. The only start he missed, in fact, was when the Yanks made him skip an outing. He’ll be in the rotation again, and for now, Jon Heyman’s desires aside, he will be a starting pitcher.
Starter? Reliever? How about pitcher?
Posted by: | CommentsWhen it comes to young pitchers, uncertainty abounds. Teams draft pitchers with an idea of their talent level and potential, but neither brings any guarantees once the pitcher begins his professional career. Sometimes the talent doesn’t correlate to the results. When it does, the pitcher then has to face increasing levels of competition until he reaches the majors, the most difficult challenge of anyone’s career. Along the way anything can go wrong, leaving a once promising career in a shambles. Even as teams employ better measures of a player’s true ability level, they cannot erase the uncertainty that comes with pitching prospects — or, as TINSTAPP would say, inexperienced pitchers.
In recent years we’ve seen another level of uncertainty, that of a pitcher’s role. No one embodies this uncertainty like Joba Chamberlain. A 2006 draftee, Chamberlain dominated the minors as a starter in 2007, moving through both A+ and AA levels. He possessed such electric stuff that the Yankees thought they could use Chamberlain at the major league level in 2007. The only hitch was that he’d pitch out of the bullpen. The reasons were twofold. First, the Yankees desperately needed another reliable option to set up Mariano Rivera. Second, finishing the season in the bullpen would keep Chamberlain’s innings in check, a concern for all young pitchers but especially for Chamberlain, who had not only limited professional experience, but only about 210 innings in college.
Chamberlain continued his dominance in the major league bullpen, allowing just one earned run, a solo homer, over 24 innings. It begat one of the winter’s two debates: should Joba be a starter or reliever? The two sides took firm stances. The reliever crowd had seen enough. Joba’s performance over those 24 innings fully convinced them that his proper role was in the bullpen. The starter crowed wanted to see if he could fulfill his top-end starter potential. In that role he’d be more valuable than a relief pitcher, even a top closer. The debate raged in 2008, as Chamberlain started lights out in the pen (though not as lights out as his small 2007 sample) and then pitched well in the rotation.
While the debate over Phil Hughes hasn’t been as heated and didn’t divide the fan base as much, there are still questions as to Hughes’s proper role. For the most part, Hughes has been a mediocre starter in the majors and a lights out setup man. With that visual evidence in place, some think that he’s better suited for the bullpen. Others think that the move to the bullpen was the confidence booster Hughes needed to fulfill his potential as a starter. After all, it was in the bullpen that Hughes started to resemble his scouting report. If he can take that back to the rotation, the Yankees could have the ace they envisioned when they drafted him in 2004.
But why are fans so intent on knowing each pitcher’s role — definitively and right now? Both sides of the debate are guilty of this. The starter side wants to see both Hughes and Joba in the bullpen until they prove they can’t handle it. The reliever side wants to see them put in their proper place as soon as possible, so they can maximize their values. If the Yankees are smart, they’ll ignore the calls to take a side and continue developing both Joba and Hughes as pitchers, rather than as starters or relievers.
There was a time in baseball when pitchers bounced back and forth between the bullpen and rotation. This was based on team need and performance. Earl Weaver is often cited for employing this philosophy. He thought that pitchers should break into majors as relievers, and only move to the rotation when they proved they could handle the bigs and the team needed them in that spot. This meant some bouncing around between the rotation and the bullpen, but that shouldn’t be much of an issue. After all, these guys are pitchers. One of my favorite bits of advice for writers is that writers write. In the same way, pitchers pitch. Forget roles; just pitch.
The idea is older than me, but it seems that teams have put more of an emphasis on roles in recent years. There are a few reasons for this, but neither seems provable or particularly valid to me. First is that bouncing a guy between the rotation and the bullpen can cause injury. That notion was reinforced for the Yankees last August when Joba Chamberlain injured his shoulder after transitioning from the bullpen to the rotation. That, however, represents just one instance of correlation to the theory. There is certainly no causation present, and to my knowledge there isn’t even a study which posits a greater correlation. The idea that pitchers are put at risk to injury when moving between the bullpen and rotation is anecdotal at best, and downright wrong at worst.
The second concern relates to roles themselves. From comments Phil Coke made earlier in the season, the guys in the bullpen prefer having a defined role. That’s fine, but since when do baseball teams make decisions based on the players’ wishes? Again, pitchers pitch. If a guy can’t mentally prepare for any role, then he’s not as versatile as a pitcher who can take the ball whenever called, whether to start the game, as a mop-up man in a blowout, or in the seventh, eighth, or ninth inning. But, because teams — or, at least, the Yankees — are so obsessed with roles, we sometimes don’t get to see a pitcher’s true potential.
Because the nature of pitching is so volatile, it’s tough to define a pitcher’s role early in his career. Obviously, starters provide more value than relievers, but what if a pitcher is better suited to late-inning relief work? That raises the further question of whether the pitcher should be put in his best possible role, or in the role that provides the team with the most overall value. In the case of unnecessarily pigeonholing relievers, we might not get to see where a pitcher thrives, because he’s kept from that role. So instead of setting a player’s role, perhaps teams should be more flexible — and train their pitchers to be more flexible as well.
Pitchers pitch, and not all pitchers are the same. Those are two key ideas in the starter vs. reliever debate. Good starters provide more value than top relievers, but some pitchers are better suited to relief work. The results should bear that out. The best way, then, to determine a pitcher’s fate is to try him out in all types of roles while keeping his ultimate rule undetermined. Over time, a pitcher’s performance should indicate the answer. If more teams employed this philosophy, maybe we wouldn’t get totally moronic, whiney columns from national baseball writers who have nothing better to write about. But more importantly, we’d see pitchers defining their own roles, rather than having the team define the role for them.
Sherman: Yankees concerned Joba was too comfortable
Posted by: | CommentsIn today’s column, Joel Sherman writes that many of the Yanks’ bigwigs felt Joba Chamberlain was a little comfortable about his place in the organziation, and considered demoting him to Triple-A Scranton back in August. In an ironic twist of fate, I suggested they do that exact same thing, but back in July. The team didn’t follow through with the move because, frankly, they were scared of having both Sergio Mitre and Chad Gaudin in their rotation at the same time.
The more important issue here is next season. CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett are locks atop the rotation. Andy Pettitte may or may not return, but beyond that you have a collection of unproven commodities. Many felt that Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes were a little to comfortable last year coming out of Spring Training, and the Yanks are probably worried about that happening again, rightly so. As it stands now, Joba, Hughes, Gaudin, Kennedy, Mitre, and even Al Aceves could come to camp competing for as many three rotation spots. While competition is ideal, having that many question marks is not.
Joba will be just fine in the bullpen
Posted by: | CommentsWhen word leaked that Joba Chamberlain would stay in the bullpen for the remainder of the season, we deemed it big enough news to get an instant post. Ben briefly discussed the decision yesterday evening, but left it as mostly a report. There’s a lot more to say about this move, and while regular RAB readers might think we’re against it, I’ll take a stand and say it’s the right move.
This isn’t the regular season. The Yankees cannot afford to hand Chamberlain the ball and hope for the best, as they did in September. During the regular season teams have a margin for error. The Yanks were able to use Joba every fifth day because there were four other starters to help cover up his bad starts. If the Yanks were facing another team’s fourth or fifth starter (or, really, any of their non-ace guys), they might have even been able to put up more runs than Joba allowed. This is not the case in the playoffs.
There is no covering up for mistakes in the playoffs. If Joba has a bad game, as he did for almost the entire months of August and September, it puts the Yankees one loss closer to elimination. That’s something no team can afford, even for one game in the playoffs. Given how Chamberlain pitched in August and September — 39 earned runs in 46.2 innings with a 36:26 K/BB ratio and a .913 OPS against — the Yanks are wise to seek alternatives in the ALCS.
The only place to turn is to Chad Gaudin, the team’s fifth starter down the stretch. In five September starts he pitched 26.2 innings, allowing 11 runs on 27 hits, walking 10 to 18 strikeouts. Those aren’t sterling numbers, but they’re far better than Joba’s. Gaudin shouldn’t be starting for a playoff team, but the Yankees find themselves in dire circumstances. Their fourth starter has proven ineffective, so the fifth starter must take over if he’s pitching better.
There is, of course, a chance Gaudin pitches poorly and puts the Yankees out of a game early. Given how he pitched compared to Joba, though, it would appear that the Yanks’ chances are better with Gaudin. There is also an issue of stamina — Gaudin pitched six or more innings only twice, and once was against the Royals. I would guess that when the Yankees say Gaudin will start in the ALCS, they mean that Gaudin will start and Aceves will act as his caddy, as he did for Joba in August and September. It’s not an ideal solution, but the Gaudin-Aceves combo, while wasting a roster spot, puts the Yankees in a better position.
On top of all that is the issue of Joba’s innings. Between college and the Hawaiian Winter League in 2006, Joba threw just under 130 innings. He is now three years removed from that total, and he pitched just under 160 innings this year. In addition, he has pitched just 370 innings as a professional. The Yankees worked Joba plenty in the regular season, and while he’d get only two starts, those are two starts in which he’d be well past his high water mark, and way, way beyond his 100 inning total from 2008.
The decision is not perfect. The Yankees surely don’t want to have Chad Gaudin pitch in the ALCS and World Series. (Though, again, if they pitch CC once on three days’ rest in the ALCS, they won’t need a fourth starter.) Given the alternatives, it is the only decision. Forget about how Joba can play a big role in multiple games out of the pen. The decision is based on performance, and Gaudin clearly outperformed Joba down the stretch.
As to Joba’s future, I wouldn’t read anything into this decision. Maybe Joba shines in the playoffs and the Yankees deem him a future closer — though I doubt they’d base a major decision on a small stretch of games. They have a long-term plan, and I assume they’ll stick to it. But when it comes to the playoffs, long-term thinking goes out the window. The Yanks want to win this now, and given how they’ve pitched, going with Gaudin (or, really, Gaudin and Aceves) is the right call.
Sherman: In ALCS, Gaudin starts with Joba in the pen
Posted by: | CommentsJoel Sherman of The Post is reporting news out of Yankee camp I had feared would come. If the Yankees reach the ALCS, they will probably ask Chad Gaudin to start Game 4 while leaving Joba Chamberlain in the bullpen. Writes Sherman:
The Yankees would not finalize plans unless they beat Minnesota. But in informal planning sessions there is a growing consensus to keep Chamberlain in the pen throughout the playoffs.
That reflects how precious each win is in the postseason, and that Chamberlain could be used in nearly every winnable game as part of a late-game lockdown trio with Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera. But it also has to do with the Yankees’ internal belief that Gaudin outperformed Chamberlain as a starter down the stretch…If the Yankees and Red Sox met in the ALCS, the Yankees might reconsider. But even under that scenario the sentiment is to start Gaudin.
The Yankees want Chamberlain available to impact multiple games as a reliever rather than be a questionable starter for one game. Even if Gaudin were to have a short start, the Yankees have Alfredo Aceves and possibly even Chamberlain to eat up innings in long relief.
When Chamberlain appeared in last night’s game in his old 8th inning role and Joe Girardi used him for two pitches to get one out, I said to myself that Joba would not be leaving the pen. As long as he gets outs and throws strikes, the Yankees will be seduced by his mentality out of the bullpen, and as Sherman notes, the pen can take on added importance in a short series.
I would prefer to see Joba Chamberlain start in the ALCS. It’s part of his development as a starter, and he’s slated to go just one game. I also fear that he this move may reignite the debate over Joba’s proper role. If he has a lockdown post-season, the fans, those that cover the team and even some of the players and coaches may very well clamor for a misguided return to the pen for the Yanks’ young arm.
For tonight’s Cardinals-Dodgers NLDS Game Thread, please click here.
One inning, under the microscope
Posted by: | CommentsI missed most of Sunday’s season finale against the Rays. I was perusing the Atlantic Antic today in Brooklyn while keeping track of the game via MLB.com’s mobile site. I arrived back home just in time for the all-important seventh inning when Joba Chamberlain made his 2009 relief debut.
Earlier in the day, I had read all about the Yanks’ plans for Joba. As they can do with a series in which they need to use only three starters, the Yankees plan on loading up their bullpen with guys who can get outs. To that end, Chamberlain will more likely than not be available for relief work during the ALDS before potentially moving back to the rotation for Game 4 of the ALCS.
Initially, I was skeptical of this move (and still am) due to the fact that Joba has been rather abysmal in his first inning of work this year. In 31 first innings, he has allowed 37 hits, 12 walks and 21 runs. Opponents are hitting .301/.360/.504 against him in 136 first inning plate appearances. Considering that a reliever generally pitches only one inning, those early-game struggles do not bode well for Joba Chamberlain out of the pen.
Apparently, though, everyone else was pretty excited about Joba’s return to the pen. Bryan Hoch called it a revision to the 2009 Joba Rules. Mark Feinsand noted that Joba would return to his “old role,” never mind that Joba had always been a starter until necessity knocked in 2007.
During the game, Joba blew everyone away!! Or so the story goes. Unfortunately, pitch f/x caught just four of Joba’s seven pitches, but he was sitting where he has been all season. His fastball topped out at 95 and his slider had some bite. It was Joba the starter on his good days but just transported to the bullpen. Not to take away from a crisp inning, but Joba was certainly helped out by the fact that he faced three guys hitting a combined .244 with a .395 slugging. Michael Cuddyer, Joe Mauer and Jason Kubel this was not.
After the game, the media went gaga over Joba. Feinsand called him “a man on fire” and noted his seemingly increased fastball velocity based on the Tampa gun. Sam Borden, somewhat skeptically, called him the “old” Joba. Tyler Kepner, a somewhat recent convert from the B-Jobber position, noted how comfortable Joba looked. Kepner noted the 95-mph fastball too, but again, that was nothing we hadn’t seen from Joba this year. When he’s regularly hitting 98/99/100 out of the pen, we can chat.
Echoing David Cone’s in-game comments, even the Yanks’ skipper noted Joba the reliever. “He looked a little different,” Joe Girardi said after the game. “Starting is different than relieving; one inning is different than asking a guy to go seven or eight. You don’t necessarily need to use all your pitches, so you can pitch a little different.”
The truth is that Joba threw exactly one inning of seven pitches against three weak hitters in a low-stress situation. He showed that he can warm up to come out of the bullpen, and he showed how good he can be when he’s throwing well against bad hitters he should dominate. As Phil Hughes has shown this year, Joba illustrated the simple baseball truth that good starters make excellent relievers.
I’m sure over the course of the next few weeks, Joba will be called upon to get some key outs as a reliever, and he’ll rise to the task. We’ll have the same old bullpen/starting pitcher debate all over again. There is, though, but one simple truth. To paraphrase a famous New York City radio personality, Joba Chamberlain is a starting pitcher.
