Nobody Can Seem to Get the Joba Story Straight
Once again, people who are paid to watch and report on baseball are not able to successfully do either.
Flashback to last night's Orioles-Yankees game. 8th inning, Kyle Farnsworth in and the game is tied at 8. The Orioles broadcasters are Gary Thorne and Jim Palmer. The following is a very close paraphrase:
Thorne: Normally this is where you'd see Joba Chamberlain, tie game.
Palmer: Well not now, you know Joba can do the job but now they're having to rely on Kyle Farnsworth.
Thorne: It's a big loss for the Yankees - you need to win the games you are supposed to win. With a so-so starter and a great bullpen, you should win those games, but with a good starter and a lousy bullpen, you're not going to win those games you should win.
Palmer: Farnsworth has a lot more experience, but he's not Joba Chamberlain.
Thorne: Up until a week or so ago, he was their 8th inning guy. This whole issue was so poorly handled by the Yankees. They said in spring training that he was going to the bullpen, and that he's their setup guy this year and that's it, end of story. Then a week ago he starts being used for multiple innings in games you wouldn't use him normally, and when someone asks Girardi, he says that they're stretching him into a starter all of a sudden.
Palmer: Of course two weeks after Hank Steinbrenner says that's where he wants him.
Thorne: Just really poorly handled.
Of course Cashman stated in spring training that Joba was to pitch about 165 innings this year, and that he'd need to spend time in the bullpen in order to limit his innings before moving to the rotation. Inning counts have been a huge point of his ever since the "Joba Rules" of 2007. There was no surprise involved. Cashman laid it all out, clearly. Sorry you didn't get the memo, Gary Thorne.
Also that nonsense about "winning the games you should win" being possible only with a good bullpen and not a good starter? What kind of insane Mike and the Mad Dog nonsense is that?
Are most baseball announcers/writers/broadcasters/mediots really so dense that they prefer 80 innings from a great pitcher instead of 150?Labels: gary thorne, jim palmer, joba chamberlain, mediots, orioles
posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 11:04 AM
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