This is completely speculative, but if you watched Joba pitch on Tuesday night, I'm sure you noticed that he was using his curve instead of his slider. The obvious question is why.
There are a couple of explanations, some mundane like maybe he just had a better feel for the curve in the pen than the slider. One possible reason is elbow tenderness. The slider is much harder on the arm than the curve, especially the type of slider he throws. One possible explanation is very interesting. We may be witnessing the beginning of the transition of Joba into the starting rotation that we've all been anticipating since the Winter.
If the timetable speculated upon over the Winter and Spring is to be believed, Joba only has about another three weeks left working out of the bullpen, maybe the team told him it's time to start refining his third and fourth pitches in preparation for the move. It's possible, and I guess only time will tell. If Joba goes back out there and breaks off nothing but heat and sliders the next time he's called upon, I'm probably wrong, but if we start seeing a four-pitch reliever in the 8th, I think I may be on to something.
I'm not really sure how I'd feel about this, if it proves to be true. Honestly, I think he's more dominant with his two best pitches when he only has to face a handful of hitters once. Mixing in all of his pitches in that role is asking for trouble.
Anyway, food for thought heading into the day game today, and something to keep an eye on.
what ever the reason may be i am completely undecided about what they should do with joba. there are so many points u can make for both sides. im the pen he can throw 97-100 every night he pitches and if the yanks are leading after 7 game over.. as a starter he cant throw 100 every pitch abd has to use more pitches but he has the potential to be one of the best in baseball . ive changed my mind so many time about this but i think it is a win win situation for the yanks where ever use him he will be lights out only time will tell. do we want a front line starter or a 7 inning game ??
I think the simple answer is that a starter is always more valuable, but that isn't necessarily the right answer. Ultimately it comes down to team needs. In the Yankees case, they absolutely need him as a starter, and the sooner the better (provided he doesn't eat up all his innings by September)
I applaud for Joba's transition. But it made no sense to start the transition in a 3-2 game and thus rob a win off Pettitte.
That really is a good way of looking at it, although, like you said yourself, it could just be speculation because we're all sitting here waiting for it to happen. If any other reliever did that, it's simply because he didn't have his best stuff coming in. But with him, we're all waiting for it to happen so something like that could be perceived as starting the transition. I agree with Raven saying that if it was the case, it shouldn't have been done in a close game. Watching that game though, it just didn't look like he was comfortable. It was one of the only times we've seen him look like that on the mound, but I have a feeling he was shaking off Molina so much because he just didn't have a feel for his slider or pinpoint control with his fastball that night. But the transition was something I definitely didn't think about at the time. Good point.
That's interesting.
To counter tom above me, does a 7-inning game matter if your team is losing 6-3? What about the reverse? Who do you think the Red Sox feel is more important, Beckett or Papelbon? Closers and elite relievers only get to pitch generally if the team is winning in an ideal situation, the way you get to a good situation like that is having good starting pitching.
The classic debate. I actually flip-flop on this one pretty frequently. Having a guy like Beckett give you 7 strong and then having a guy like Joe Borowski blow the lead in the 9th can be a team killer. Of course, having a guy like Mo sitting in the pen without a chance to get into the game is pretty much pointless.
It really does come down to team needs.