No. He's been a starter for his entire pitching career, with the exception of Fall 2007 and Spring 2008, both of which were times where the strategy was to limit innings. The reason you have an innings cap is because of what is known as the Rule of 30 (or the Year After Effect... or the Verducci Rule/Effect). Young pitchers have been shown to struggle or become more likely to suffer an injury if their workload jumps by more than 30 innings year over year. So if Joba was at 110 innings last year, this rule says you don't want to see him throwing much more than 140 this year... and no more than 170 or so in 2010. Is it a hard and fast rule? Of course not. And while the results are significant, there are still plenty of flaws that allow for variable outcomes. But considering how valuable stud pitchers are to teams, you're not likely to see (smart) franchises ride their young arms too hard. Mark Prior and Kerry Wood are well-known examples of young pitchers who likely suffered from injuries from a too rapid ramp-up of innings. Dontrelle Willis and Justin Verlander might be additional examples. Cole Hamels was on the list this year, and has been affected by elbow issues this year. I wouldn't be surprised if Lester developed issues, as well. He threw far more innings than he had ever thrown in his career last season (a jump of about 60 innings). Here's an older article on it, with the whole concept explained by Verducci himself.
Good to know. I definitely support management being careful with Chamberlain. We need him to be effective for a long long time if we are to supplant the Chowders any time soon.
Cap...I never knew this until seeing Swish play, but his intangibles are contagious. He loves playing and is ecstatic to be a Yankee, he exudes that in everything he does. That's great to see and great to be around in the locker room. The intangibles will keep him here even if the hitting declines.
Well Cappy I guess I shouldn't expect the sweep that I want today and be "content" with taking the series.
Did anyone hear the fans heckling Jorge in the 9th? You could hear them as clear as day and you could see them behind homeplate. One guy said, "Hey, Jorge, I f***ed your wife... and she wasn't that good." He added some other stuff and Jorge was talking back to him. When Jorge was batting, I could hear (and see) the other guy yelling something about some fans who would give Jorge oral sex (not in those words). Both guys were thrown out of the park (according to Michael Kay). What dopes. I'm not against heckling, but to use that kind of language around kids is terrible. I wonder if they will replay that inning on the encore showing. I'm sure that will edit it out.
Was thinking the same thing. The yankees have needed a personality on the team like that for a long time.
Yankees, Joba Chamberlain Gardner CF Jeter SS Swisher 1B Matsui DH Nady RF Cano 2B Cabrera LF Ransom 3B Molina C Royals, Gil Meche Crisp CF Aviles SS DeJesus LF Teahen 3B Jacobs 1B B. Pena DH Callaspo 2B Buck C Bloomquist RF
A fan roots for their team to win every individual game (obviously), and will also be upset if they lose any given game (also obvious). But fans should also be able to realize that their team is not going to win every game and look at the bigger picture when talking about future expectations. The point is that - going into any series - you just want to win the series. If you do that, you've done quite well, regardless of opponent, and especially on the road. It's tough to expect a sweep, though. You have three unknown outcomes of games in a sport where the very best teams lose 40% of their games. Even if the Yanks were expected to win 80% of their games against the Royals, during a three-game series, you'd only expect a Yankee sweep to occur half the time. (This is oversimplified, as it ignores matchups and such, but the overall point remains valid.) If your team has already won the first two games of the series, then the expectations for the series obviously change. You now know two out of three outcomes. A sweep is more likely, and easier to expect. But I still see no reason why you should be disappointed with the series as a whole if they lose, though. Unless you just like to set yourself up for disappointment.
If Joba doesn't throw six innings of shutout ball today, it will be obvious that he should be moved back to his natural home in the bullpen.
and that's why Brett Gardner is an asset to this team! single up the middle, stole 2nd, advanced on a grounder, than taking home on a (barely) passed ball
Out of all the moves the Yanks made this offseason, getting Swisher was the best one. He is the modern day Paul O'Neil for the Yanks and just the kind of player they have been missing the last few years.
