Hank: YFSF Reader

It hit me in the middle of another Ian Kennedy debacle Friday night: this entirely original  idea, this eureka moment. The Yanks' starting rotation is in trouble. How about they convert Joba back to starting since he's got great stuff and was groomed as one throughout the minors? And I thought the sooner the Yanks did this, the better.

Hank Steinbrenner was surfing the web. He stopped off here, then made his way over to our site. I can imagine his response. Pulling up his pants, fixing his collar, Hank nodded his head up and down. "This Nick-YF guy knows what he's talking about. Cashman is an idiot!"

And then he got on his pinstriped phone and dialed up Michael Schmidt of the New York Times.

With the Yankees off to a 10-10 start, and with two of their young starters struggling, the Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner said there was one thing in particular he would like to change: He wants Joba Chamberlain, the Yankees’ hard-throwing setup man, to move into the rotation.

“I want him as a starter and so does everyone else, including him, and that is what we are working toward and we need him there now,” Steinbrenner said Sunday by telephone. “There is no question about it, you don’t have a guy with a 100-mile-per-hour fastball and keep him as a setup guy. You just don’t do that. You have to be an idiot to do that.”

Please Hank, pretty please! Please post a comment here. Don't be shy.

Comments

[Atheose]

I'd LOVE for Mussina to pitch like Moyer, whose ERA+ has been below average three of the last four years.

[John - YF]

My favorite part of the quote is when he says Mussina needs to learn how to pitch like Jaime Moyer...Way to set the bar high!

The only issue I have with Joba starting is what happens if it doesn't work? What's the next step then?

[Atheose]

I guess move him back to a closer, John. Though I expect him to succeed as a starter.

[John - YF]

5.01 last year in the NL...that's not good.

[Atheose]

So any chance of a Red Sox-Rangers gamer?

[John - YF]

I don't think anyone knows how he will do as a starter (not an attack Ath) and that's the problem. The Yankees had a game plan, keep the young kids, pass on Santana and be patient. Twenty games into the season where did that go? Mussina is what Mussina is, he has done nothing to so far this season that has been unexpected. Problem is 2 of the "Big 3" have been a lot less than expected so Mussina's performace is polarized.

Someone get Freddy Garcia's agent on the horn ASAP.

[Lar]

Of course, the bar to "success" is so low now. Hahaha..

[Atheose]

Yeah John, I'm not saying Joba will definitely succeed in the rotation. I'm just saying that I expect him too. His stuff is too good for him not to, in my opinion.

Of course I'd love to be wrong. I hate the kid and would love to see his ERA shoot through the roof this year.

[John - YF]

Hate Joba? That's like hating Santa Claus. Completely irrational! LOL.

You are right he does have great stuff, but what if it doesn't translate over 9 innings? What if he is adequate to less than adequate what then? I think he losses a little of that swagger, that cockiness and possibly some of his effectiveness as a set up man. I too think he will be just fine as a starter, but I think this move is one of those no turning back moves and it just worries me a little.

ATH, how is your brothers season going so far?

[Atheose]

I definitely see the problems that may arise, John. It's tough going from 1-inning adrenaline-fueled fervor to slow, deliberate baseball where you suddenly have to pace yourself. I just believe that he will do fine despite all of this.

My brother is doing well, his school hasn't updated their stats so I don't have any numbers though. They converted one of their pitchers into a reliever and have him successful in that role, so there's no need to push the starters to go as long. I've been too busy to see many games sadly, though I'm going to go to two next week!

[Nick -YF]

Joba was a huge starting pitching prospect who scouts, prospect mavens, all believe has the stuff, make-up to be a successful starter. It would be one thing if he didn't have that as part of his profile, if there were questions, at all, about whether he should be limited to his relief role. I think there's a danger in keeping his as a reliever too long.

[John - YF]

I am not doubting Joba or his abilities. I also know that he has been a starter and has been successful before. My only point is what if he falters, how does he handle that and how does it affect his pitching ability long term. He is VERY good at what he does right now and I only worry that if it doesn't translate what happens next?

[Atheose]

Drew walked again. Pitching around him, or just poor location? He's arguably the 2nd toughest bat in the lineup right now, so I don't blame them for wanting to get to the Lowrie-Lugo-Cash-Thurston clown-team part of our lineup.

[Atheose]

Whoops wrong thread.

[Nick -YF]

Of course, that has to be a consideration. It seems baseball history is filled with pitchers who have been ruined by how their clubs broke them into the majors, but, at a certain point, you have to trust the scouts and "experts", and I believe the Yanks' current and future needs and the difference in value that Joba presents as a middle-reliever versus a front-line starter all are factors that scream for his conversion back into a starter.

[Zooboy]

Let's make Farnsworth a starter instead. Maybe he can pitch batting practice to Hal. (Oops. I slipped.)

[IronHorse (yf)]

Joba to the rotation is not the cure though he may help temporarily.

Nothing can change the fact that if Hughes and Kennedy do not start pitching at least as well as they did last year (and hopefully improve over last year - at least in Hughes' case...Kennedy was absurdly effective in his few '07 games), the Yanks are in trouble because Mussina is a .500 pitcher at best for them and will never again be anything more than that.

Right now I count the Yanks lucky for being a .500 team given the pitching they are getting. I almost don't care whether they move Joba to the rotation - I am focused on either H or K starting to pitch.

[krueg]

My feeling is putting Joba in the pen is a band aid to the problem of IPK and Hughes not starting out strong...maybe Joba could come in a be a solid starter? Of course, he has, in a very short time, become one of the best setup men in the majors so why mess with success? Best case scenario, Joba becomes a top 3 starter but he is already a top 5 setup guy for Mo? Who is going to hand the ball off to Mo if Joba is moved? Then the games where our starters actually pitch more than 3 innings could end up being loses as opposed to the nearly automatic Joba to Mo end of the bullpen...

Leave Joba alone...work with IPK and Hughes to get their collective heads right and lets win some friggen games!

[Lar]

I think it would be great and interesting if we get to the playoffs, since having Joba as a starter means the rotation of possibly Wang-AP-Joba (or Hughes if he starts kicking ass) or whatever, but gives us a good possibility.

Still though, we got to hit more..

[SF]

I appreciate the dignified and intelligent debate about the merits of Joba in the rotation within this thread, but how is the broad swipe at Brian Cashman not at all an issue? Hank basically passes the buck for the offseason and for this season in this article, washing his hands of the Yankees' struggles now and later only three weeks into the year. It undermines Cahsman and is really quite a cowardly set of comments, as far as I am concerned.

[IronHorse (yf)]

I hate to admit that SF is right on the Hank-spank of Cashman and Girardi.

I have not gone in for the anti-Hank commentary on this site last season (and there was plenty of it) and have had not a single problem with any of the comments he made. Until now. I don't think there is any conceivable reason for him to air these matters through the press except to make himself look better and to place pressure on management to do what he wants them to do.

One can debate the content of what Hank said too (is it really so inconceivable that you place a 100-mph flamethrower in the bullpen? I don't think so), but the content argument is actually less important here in my view. I think Hank, for the first time, stepped outside of his "I support the baseball people around me" mantra and it only took 20 games of .500 ball in his first full season to do so. I am not happy with the precedent.

[SoxFan]

Hank should fire Girardi and Cashman and then make himself the manager of the Yanks, with his brother the GM.

Who wouldn't want to see Hank sitting in the dugout wearing the pinstripes? It will be just like when Ted Turner decided that he wanted to manage the Atlanta Braves.

It would be worth its weight in comedy gold.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Let's say the Girardi-Cash-Hank triumverate on Tuesday decides to put Joba in the rotation. How long does it take until he's ready to go, say, 6ip, 85 pitches?
They'll have to stretch him out, right. So that'll take AT LEAST a month, maybe 6-8 weeks. Can they afford to do that right now and remain competitive?

Also, is it possible that THE PLAN is for Joba to eventually replace Mo?

I know this goes against the grain of NYY baseball, but maybe they would be best just trying to baptize these guys (Kennedy, Hughes, Joba) by fire. Put them out there, let them learn from their mistakes and assume they are good enough to make the opposition pay next year and on.

Lastly, if it's me, and the plan is to move joba into the lineup, I would have fought to move him there this year, before he became too accustomed to relieving, and let Kennedy have another year in the minors. I really think Kennedy is being rushed.