» Joba Chamberlain

I had a friend text me again. He asked what I thought about the following trade:

He would give up Alex Rodriguez/3b; Kyle Lohse/sp; Stephen Drew/ss and receive Ian Kinsler/2b; Joba Chamberlain/sp>rp; and Mark Derosa/if.

I told him there were a few contingencies:

1) Is it a keeper league? If so, go for it because I’d definitely keep Kinsler + Joba over Arod + Drew. Kinsler’s younger and cheaper than Arod (even in fantasy depending on how your keeper league might work).

2) Is his middle infielders killing him?

3) Does he have a solid 3b/corner infield to back up for A-rod’s absence (hoping Derosa isn’t it)

4) Finally, I told him to attempt to wait it out and see if Joba will become a reliever since the Yankees have Wang back and the young Philip Hughes. My opinion is that he will becuase he was much more dominant there and Wang’s stuff is meant to start and Hughes is a stud.

Therefore, I told him the only player straight up I’d trade A-rod for is Pujols and maybe Hanley. Unless he believes Joba will remain a starter and so long as it’s not a keeper league, I suggested him not to do it. 1+ Months out of baseball, and A-rod is still on pace for 45+ homers.

*Cough cough* no. Joba is good, but he isn’t All-Star good. Yet. And the Yankees rotation isn’t very dominating. CC Sabathia was grossly overpaid and pitched well in the inferior NL. He will be lit up by every AL East team other than Baltimore, not to mention other teams in the AL. And does anybody remember how the Red Sox lit him up in 2007? I sure do.

Heh heh heh...

Wang is also good but he isn’t as good as the media has portrayed him as.Wang is also very hittable. Burnett had one good year—2008, a contract year. He was also well overpaid and he has never pitched under pressure. Chamberlain has great stuff but he has never pitched out of the rotation in the big leagues. 5+ innings is much different from the 1-2 innings he pitched before. And he will get thrown out many times if he continues to act the way he likes to—throwing two straight pitches at a batter’s head, like with Kevin Youkilis. And Pettite is old. He will be average at best this year.

But the Red Sox rotation is a different story. This rotation has the perfect balance of youth and veterans. Josh Beckett is both young and a veteran and he should have won the Cy Young in 2007. Daisuke Matsuzaka has been incredible in his two years in the Majors and he can only get better in his third year. Jon Lester is only the best lefty in baseball, and therefore must be better than Sabathia. Brad Penny should put together a solid year or better and John Smoltz is proven to be a terrific pitcher and a big game pitcher. Tim Wakefield is statistically the best pitcher on the Red Sox and the only problem he could have would be his catcher, who thinks he’s up to the challenge of the knuckleball. And Wake even said he has been comfortable throwing to him during Spring games.

Basically, no matter who’s out there for the Yankees WE are poised for a sweep every series. The Yankees have the offense, but the Red Sox have the pitching, defense, and consistency that never seems to come out of the Bronx anymore. All the Red Sox have to do is win the Spring game tonight and they will prove my point that the Red Sox CAN sweep the Yankees multiple times this year.

All Yankees fans know about the impressive starting rotation the 2009 Yankees have. C.C. Sabathia, Chien-Ming Wang, A.J. Burnett, Joba Chamberlain, and Andy Pettitte. The very mention of this potentially devastating tandem ought to evoke fear and trepidation in lineups around the league. I, for one, CANNOT WAIT until the first round of series against the Boston Red Sox. We won’t even have to think about what three pitchers are due to pitch against Boston, whether our ace will be among them, etc. Whoever the Yanks put out there, we’ll be poised for a potential sweep every time.

Which begs the question: which of the Yankee pitchers is most likely to lead the pack for the Cy Young Award this season?

My pick is Joba Chamberlain. In my view, Joba Chamberlain is the most exciting Yankee to come along since Derek Jeter. He throws hard, he’s got wicked breaking balls, he changes speeds beautifully, and he is absolutely fearless. We saw him pitch three innings last week in Tampa against the defending World Series champion Phillies, and he was absolutely lights out – including striking out Ryan Howard with a wicked changeup that froze the mighty Howard like a statue where he stood.

It seems that the only thing that has stopped Joba so far (a Biblical plague of locusts aside) has been the careful limits that have been placed on the number of innings he is allowed to pitch. This is certainly wise. We all know what happened to rookie sensation Francisco Liriano, who blew out his arm in 2006 and was on the DL for two seasons after an awesome rookie year. We don’t want that to happen to Joba, as he completes the transition from bullpen pitcher to starter.

The time has come, however, to take the training wheels off this Tatooine gangster. I predict that Joba, either this year or next year, will win 20 games, with 200 strikeouts, and bring home the Cy Young award. Depend upon it.

But even if Joba does not fulfill the prophecy of his greatness this year, the Cy Young Award still has an excellent chance of coming home to New York for the first time since the back-to-back wins of Sparky Lyle in 1977, and Ron Guidry in 1978 (when all good things were made). C.C. Sabathia and Chien-Ming Wang have been perennial frontrunners the last three seasons. And let’s NOT forget the long overdue Cy Young Award which has been too long denied to the greatest pitcher of the last 15 years, our aging hero Mariano Rivera (who was most notably robbed of this award in 1996 and 2005). Whatever happens, it should be an exciting year for Yankee pitching.