Joba Rules

My thoughts on Hank Steinbrenner are well documented, but this morning the news that he opened up his big fat mouth again broke, and I have to say I agree with him. Hank said that Joba Chamberlain, the best of the Yankees big three young pitchers, should be starting. While I dislike the fact that Hank is speaking out this early in the season (or ever) and undermining Joe Girardi's authority, he does have a point.

While it is a nice luxury to be able to have games essentially ended when the Yankees have a lead after 7 innings, due to the dynamic duo that is Joba and Mo, it is useless to have such an asset when the Yankees cannot obtain a lead through seven innings. When the Starting Pitching is struggling, having a great eighth inning pitcher is useless.

The main point is this: Starters have a much larger impact throughout the season. Sure, they pitch once every 5 games. But the number of innings they effect is at least double that of set-up men and closers. Joba is talented enough that they having him pitch more would obviously be beneficial. The Yankees starters have been struggling, and having a quality pitcher like Joba would be great. There are plenty of stats to back this up, but I choose not to list them. Instead I will just reiterate my main point; Joba needs to be a starter, for the short and long term benefit of the Yankees.