Joba Chamberlain: Five Reasons the New York Yankees Reliever Should Be Starting
March 14, 2011 · Jason Catania · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
By most accounts, the New York Yankees have mishandled Joba Chamberlain during his first four years in pinstripes. It’s about time they make up for it.
When Chamberlain broke into the bigs as a reliever in late 2007, he immediately dominated headlines and opposing hitters alike.
In fact, he was so good in his role out of the bullpen—2-0, 0.38 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 34 strikeouts and only 12 hits in 24 innings—everyone, from fans to the media to Yankees management, became so caught up in this shiny new toy and seemed to forget that the hard-throwing righty wasn’t actually supposed to be a reliever at all.
Now, more than three years later, it seems silly—even flat-out wrong—to think of Chamberlain as a starting pitcher, doesn’t it? Especially when he’s started only about one-quarter of his games (43 of 166) while donning pinstripes.
Blame for this goes to GM Brian Cashman and the rest of management’s enactment of the once wildly popular “Joba Rules.” After all, if he looks like a reliever and throws like a reliever, by gosh, he must be, well, you get the idea.
Fact is, this Joba-as-reliever mindset has become so universally-accepted, the 25-year-old’s career has already been defined not by his potential as a starting pitcher, but rather by his limitations as a bullpen arm.
But here are five reasons—for fun, let’s call them the “Joba Jewels”—why the Yankees would be better off with Chamberlain in the rotation this year.
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