General Joe To Make Joba Call
But, will it be all Girardi or Girardi and Cashman? It does not seem like Hank and Cash are on the same page here. From the Star Ledger -
Yankees senior vice president Hank Steinbrenner has spent most of the off-season insisting that [Joba Chamberlain], who finished the last two months of last season as a reliever, begin the season in the starting rotation. But Steinbrenner said yesterday that new Yankees skipper Joe Girardi will have the final say.
“It’s ultimately up to Joe Girardi,” Steinbrenner said in a phone interview. “Joe knows how to handle pitchers better than any of us.”
General manager Brian Cashman, however, said he would be involved in the decision as well.
“Joe and I will work it out,” Cashman said. “We’ll see how it all shakes out.” Cashman said Chamberlain will spend spring training preparing for a starting role, but that could change once the season begins.
“We want him as a starter, we will prepare him as a starter, but we have to respect that there’s an innings limit,” Cashman said. Steinbrenner confirmed that there are several options on the table for handling Chamberlain. He could start the season in the starting rotation and switch over to the bullpen later, or begin the season in the starting rotation. He could be part of a six-man rotation to keep his innings under his limit. But keeping Chamberlain in the bullpen the entire season is not part of the plan, Steinbrenner said. The Yankees plan to stick with newly-signed free-agent reliever LaTroy Hawkins and the hard-throwing, if unreliable, Kyle Farnsworth as setup men for closer Mariano Rivera.
Long term, Steinbrenner said, “we’re not going to use (Chamberlain) as a setup guy. That would not be the ideal situation. He needs to be a starting pitcher or a closer, and we have a closer.”
The six-man rotation thing is silly. Why would you want to cut into the number of starts from Pettitte and Wang?
Here’s a wild concept: Why not make Hughes and Joba a two-headed rotation spot, if you want to baby their arms?
Here’s how it would work: The rotation would be Pettitte, Wang, Mussina and Kennedy (in the front four) followed by a Joba/Hughes spot. In the first turn of the rotation, to start the year, Joba gets the start and Hughes is a long man out of the pen. In the next turn of the rotation, Hughes gets the start and Joba is in the pen. And, you keep switching them out that way each time the rotation turns again. In the end, Chamberlain gets 15 starts and some games out of the pen and Hughes gets 15 starts and some games out of the pen.
Hey, I’m not saying this is the answer. And, it may not even be a smart idea. But, it’s an idea, nonetheless. And, it’s still a better idea than taking away 5 starts each from Pettitte and Wang by using a six-man rotation.
I actually wrote about that yesterday on my own blog.
I think it is a good idea to have Hughes and Chamberlain shadowing each other for the first three months of the season.
Chamberlain pitching 4 innings per appearance, would mean to me that he can easily be stretched out to a 6 inning or so man when the time is right to make that adjustment.
At the same time, Hughes can start off being a bit babied since he had an injury shortened season last year, but will eventually be able to stretch out to the 6th or 7th inning in the middle of the year as well.
In addition, it is a guaranteed day off for the bullpen.
You don’t have to take starts away from Pettitte and Wang in a 6 man.
Those two could pitch on regular rest each turn, while the other four are rotated around them as necessary for the first couple months of the season. Joba could be skipped a few times too, straight out at varying points throughout the year, as his limit is far more hard than Hughes’. By the end of the year, either through injury or someone failing, the team will be able to be moved back to a five man.
One of the last things either Hughes or Joba need is to be conditioned to not pitch deep into games more than they both probably already have been.
B is right. neither Wang NOR Pettitte would be skipped in a 6-man rotation (it’s more of a 5.5-man rotation).
They go on regular rest every time through, Kennedy’s the #3 (bc he can go up to 200 ip), Hughes 4, Joba 5, and Moose as the spot starter who starts in place of Hughes or Joba every 2-4 times through the rotation (not counting off days). it’s pretty straight forward: Wang and Pettitte go the whole year, if they average 6 ip/start, Kennedy can start 33 times, Hughes and Joba 25 each, and Moose about 8. that adds up to 162 games while keeping all the youngins withing their limits.
I have been saying for weeks(on other blogs) that the big 3 should; Start in the rotation, skip them on days off, skip them (one each week). When they are skipped over they can stay sharp by picking up 1-2 innings in the pen. Dovetails into the above remarks, somewhat. This way the innings are down but you are still building up the arms for next year, and the playoffs. Also, I think one should look at the pitches thrown per inning (as posted above) and I believe Joe/Cash will do just that. 27/08