Yeah, but he only threw 100 innings this year, and he got hurt. Twice. The 2nd time after doing nothing but relieving for a month.

So now what? Do the Yanks pitch him once a week in relief, saving him for only super duper ooper critical spots?

come on guys, think about this. He’s saying if joba pitches 200 innings he’ll get hurt. Steve is implying that he can’t even pitch 100 innings and not get hurt, how are we supposed to think he can throw 200.

True, simply watching Joba since his return, his stuff is nowhere as dominant as pre-injury. But, as Evan points out, he’s been used exclusively since from the bullpen. So where is there any correlation?

The guy has/had three, maybe four, quality pitches. That is wasted in the bullpen. Since injuries happen, better to try and leverage Joba as a starter than from the bullpen.

And in the future, some thinking Joba as Mariano’s replacement, how is being a team’s full time closer going to alleviate stress and strain? That is beyond me.

~~And this suggests Jorge is right…in exactly what way?~~

Posada said that, if you ask Joba to throw 200 IP, he’s going to get hurt..implying that his shoulder could not take the strain of starting.

Lemme see if I get this right.

Joba hurts his shoulder while starting. They give him a month off and bring him back as a reliever.

Meanwhile, Jorge says they should leave him in the pen, because he’ll get hurt as a starter.

So he’s back in the pen, and now, the shoulder is bothering him again.

And this suggests Jorge is right…in exactly what way?

Is it possible that Joba’s motion (failure to finish properly to decelerate and stopping his arm by hitting it against his body) is going to cause major shoulder problems no matter how he’s used, as was suggested by one of the internet pitching motion analysts (I forget which one) a while back?

If so, it will blow out in either role. If not, who’s to say using him 34 times a year for 100 pitches, some of which he’ll be able to throw at less than 100% effort is more destructive than throwing 20 pitches a game for 60-70 games a year, most or all of these pitches all out in a tight game (Hold situations)?

If Joba can be a starter, that’s where you use him. If he blows out his shoulder, pray it can be fixed. I mean, we never see top relievers blow out their arms, do we?

Sometimes, I think people have never seen a closer except for Mariano.