Joba Back To The Pen In 2009?

Well, the 2008 season isn’t over yet, but this has come up recently, so I figured I’d write about it. As it stands today, Joba, as a reliever, definitely sounds like a possibility for next season. In fact, in light of some recent comments made by Brian Cashman regarding Joba’s return from the DL, 8th inning Joba seems like a very real possibility into 2009.

From Bryan Hoch:

Joba Chamberlain was spitting sunflower seeds in his old familiar spot as the Yankees opened their three-game series with the Rays on Tuesday.What’s more, it appears likely that he may be in the bullpen come Opening Day ‘09 as well.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said that because of Chamberlain’s transition to the rotation and a bout with right rotator cuff tendinitis that cost him most of August, the right-hander will not approach the club’s projected innings cap for 2008.

Because of that, the Yankees are not inclined to approve the type of 2009 workload that would allow Chamberlain to open the season in New York’s rotation, which would likely approach at least 180 innings.

“We haven’t talked about it,” Cashman said. “It’s kind of premature for me to talk about now. I just know that he had an innings limit this year that he didn’t meet. Could he exceed that innings limit next year? You wouldn’t want to do that.”

Chamberlain was activated from the disabled list on Tuesday having thrown 89 innings this season, and Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that the right-hander’s final total would probably be close to 100 innings, allowing service through September as the club’s primary eighth-inning reliever.

“I think it’s like riding a bike,” Chamberlain said. “You’ve got to get back on the horse. It’s really no different than pitching in general. It’s just the situation that goes along with it. You’ve still got to go get outs, no matter what inning it is.”

Unless something changes drastically, Chamberlain will report to Spring Training eyeing much the same situation that he saw this year, when he prepared as a starter during the Grapefruit League before being assigned to relief work to open the season.

This is something Tyler Kepner touched on yesterday as well. It clearly makes sense in terms of the practicality. Joba needed to log innings this year, in order to log more innings next year, however he won’t meet the limit they were hoping for in 2008. Therefore, 2009 is subsequently effected (and probably even 2010). Last year, Joba threw a grand total of 112.1 innings (between the minors and the majors). Assuming the rule of 30, the Yankees probably hoped to get Joba to 130 or maybe even 140 innings this year until his injury derailed that hope. So, in 2009, he’ll likely have to go through this year’s transition process (reliever to starter) all over again. Also, I think the Yankees wouldn’t hesitate (much) to push Joba over 100 innings a bit (maybe up to 110), to finish up this season.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone, as Phil Hughes is going through a similar ordeal (he was injured for a good part of the year so he’ll make up innings in the Arizona Fall League, which will likely effect his status for next year). Joba’s role as a reliever in 2009 (at least initially) will probably force Cashman to bolster his rotation, meaning that Pettitte and Mussina will likely return for another season. CC Sabathia will be heavily courted and Wang will return, so that’ll leave one more rotation spot open for the taking. Cashman can choose to go after a Burnett-type, but with Joba waiting in the winds, it’ll be interesting to see how he handles that hole (that is, if he returns as the GM).