The Joba Flip Flop Continues

[NYgiantsfan5689]

ESPN - After meetings, Steinbrenner says Chamberlain likely to join rotation in '09 - MLB

Hank says Joba's gonna be a starter in 2009. I like this decision. No more mid-season changes. Let him get ready for whatever he's gonna be.

If we have a really good offseason, realistically the rotation could look like this next year:

1. CC Sabathia
2. Chien-Ming Wang
3. Mike Mussina
4. Andy Pettitte
5. Joba Chamberlain

I would really like that rotation. It could be deadly. No telling if Moose comes back, looks to be about 60-70% chance he retires. But I'd love for him to come back. The only major question is what to do with Phil Hughes? If Moose retires, it would probably look like this:


1. CC Sabathia
2. Chien-Ming Wang
3. Andy Pettitte
4. Joba Chamberlain
5. Phil Hughes

still a very strong rotation.

Thoughts?

[ljshorty89]

I wouldn't count on CC yet, and god knows how he'll be after going like 4 straight outings on short rest. I think that if they end up with the second rotation it will be pretty damn good, but Hughes would still be a bit of a question mark, and Pettite was very up and down last year...

[NYgiantsfan5689]

I'm not counting on him per-say, I'm just saying best-case scenario. I am counting on us signing SOME kind of big name FA pitcher, so whoever it is would go in there somewhere

[love_that_reefer]

I know I sound like I broken record but I think Joba is best served as a reliever. That said, I would not put him in the fifth slot in the rotation behind Mussina and Pettitte. Joba is a much better pitcher than both of them. Pettitte should be the fifth starter with his mediocre year and a 4.60 ERA. Plus if I'm the Yankees, I go hard after Teixeira and concentrate on an AJ Burnett or Ben Sheets instead of C.C..

[NYgiantsfan5689]

Pettitte should be the 5th starter, I totally agree with you, but he won't be because the front office is big on tradition and experience and rewarding loyalty. Pettitte, being the longtime Yankee he is, will probably get a bump up in the rotation because of it.

[love_that_reefer]

Not if Joe wants to get back to the playoffs. They should learn their lessons from this year. Tradition means dick.

[browntown653]

Ben Sheets? I wouldn't even come close to taking a chance on him.

[love_that_reefer]

Sheets would be less money and a lot less years. Worth the risk instead of paying Sabathia all that money and for all those years. Make more sense.

[NYgiantsfan5689]

Not with all his injuries. He's the epitome of injury prone

[love_that_reefer]

Better off having him or Burnett than being bogged down by Sabathia's contract. Sheets still made 31 starts this year. That's more than Hughes or Kennedy will make combined. Its worth it and makes sense for the Yankees. I just don;t think its smart for the Yankees to make a long term commitment on a pitcher.

[love_that_reefer]

Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner said Thursday that Joba Chamberlain will be a starter next season.
It's worth noting that Steinbrenner said similar things leading into this season before Chamberlain began the year in the bullpen, but this time general manager Brian Cashman seems to be on the same page. "The plan as of right now is Chamberlain is going to be a starter," Steinbrenner said. "Everybody's pretty much in agreement with that."

Hopefully the Yankees will get a full-time for Chamberlain so he can be prepared to throw 170+ innings.