Jesus Christ. First of all, WHY ARE YOU CALLING FOR A BUNT?! I mean, you got a guy who is very, very, unlikely to hit into a DP, and is likely to move a guy over with a ground ball. Secondly... if you're going to call for a bunt, GET THE FUCKING BUNT ON THE GROUND!
Okay, so I'm not in bed yet... but Johnson has been crushing these pitches... he just needs to straighten 'em out a bit.
I still say Chamberlain will effectively be out of baseball in another two years. He has nothing anymore. Good job Cashman.
Wait, this is Cashman's fault? For what? Making him injure his shoulder in 2008? You're the one who wanted him in the pen... well, this is the post-shoulder injury Joba, for better or worse. Hopefully, he can get something back on his fastball, because what he's got right now ain't cutting it. I still want to know why no one is asking where his velocity went. It's anywhere from 4-10mph less than it used to be (regardless of role). Old Joba sat at 95 as a starter and 97+ as a reliever, hitting 101. If new Joba sits at 92 as a starter, then he should still be sitting at 95 as a reliever. He's not. He's sitting at 92 and occasionally hitting 96. Has anyone heard a single question asked about that? "Hey, Joba... you used to throw anywhere from 97-101 out of the pen. Consistently. You topped out at 94 tonight and have topped out at 96 for the season. What happened to your fastball?" Has anyone heard anything along those lines? I don't think he's washed up for good, though. This could a be dead arm year after the innings jump last year, sapping even more off his fastball than normal. It happens. (See Verlander's 2008.) I do think it's important for him to get something resembling his old fastball back, though. He needs it in order to have an effective slider. Either that, or he'll have to rework his repertoire. Back when he was throwing gas, there was a separation of about 10mph between the two pitches. 4-6mph separation isn't going to fool nearly as many batters. At the very least, this should show all those Joba to the Pen knuckleheads that it wasn't about Joba being more confident or having the mental makeup for the pen. It's about his fastball, his fastball, and his fastball. In any case, I'd say the bigger problem last night was Girardi. Robertson was doing fine (and I'd say is a better reliever than Joba at this point), Joba had pitched in two of the past three games less than a month after being converted to a reliever, and Morales has owned Joba (granted in a small sample size).
It's obviously because he is fat, Cappy. Joba being fat means he can't play pro-sports. I think Don has a thing against fat people. Like Patrick Pewderschmidt in Family Guy. Don is the Fat Guy Strangler. CC and Joba are starting a Fat Guys Anonymous club; Just wait till the Yankees pick up Prince Fielder and Pablo Sandoval!! Oh noes!!
Anyone who thought Andy was still capable of a game like this is a liar! lol... This was a glimpse of the self mediacting Andy! :beer: Fukin Lights out! YANKEE fans representin' in Los An...I mean Anehiem!
Agreed. It's fucked how Joba lost that much velocity seemingly over night. I'd like some answers. In other news, Andy Pettite has been nasty to start the year. He's been unreal so far.
the staff was over-protective of him a couple years ago. but honestly, i couldn't tell you where or how that velocity went.
I've said it since it happened. His velocity went right around the same time as the shoulder injury. I don't know how much of the loss is from the injury directly, and how much is from any changes they made to his mechanics to protect the shoulder (could be a little from Column A, a little from Column B), but the decrease was immediate and consistent from the time of that injury. Here's his velocity chart once more, just for old time's sake (let me know if you can't see it): As you can see, he used to hit 99-100 regularly until he hurt his shoulder. Since he came back from that, whether he was in the pen or the rotation, the three fastest pitches we've seen from him were all 97 mph. And - perhaps ironically - they all came while he was starting last year. This is why I said the Yanks would have been better off trading him if this was the role they were planning on using him in. Trade him while he still had value as a top prospect/starter. Put him in the pen, and you'll get nothing for him if he fails in that role.
