Wallace Matthews writes for a living.
How the fuck is that possible? Why didn’t anyone tell me about this article?
The Yankees are an organization that thinks it can control everything, from the media to the climate.
This sentence is ugly. And not just regular-ugly. It’s Youkilis-ugly.
Did you know the dugouts in the new Stadium are air-conditioned?
Nope, but I do now. And I think that’s awesome.
And they are trying their damnedest to control the career of Joba Chamberlain, the prize bull in their stable, to the point that you’re surprised they even allow him to knot his own necktie.
I can’t begin to imagine why a team that thinks it has a guy with A+ ability might want to direct his career. Hopefully they’ve managed to get his ass to stop drinking in the car.
But there are circumstances even the Yankees can’t control, and yesterday’s 11-inning struggle with the Toronto Blue Jays, a game so long that by the time it ended it was almost Joba’s turn to pitch again, should serve as a reminder that trying to scientifically engineer a career is as foolhardy as expecting Alex Rodriguez to begin digging ditches in the offseason for fun.
64 words is a lot for one sentence.
Less than two hours after Joe Girardi had restated the Yankees’ plan for turning Joba into the Boy in the Bubble, Derek Jeter was limping around after a Ricky Romero curveball found the instep of his right foot.
Five innings later, it was Jorge Posada, hobbling after a wild pitch by A.J. Burnett and smarting from enough foul tips that he said he felt as if he had been in a boxing match.
Then, just before Robinson Cano finally sent everyone home happy with his 11th-inning single, it was A-Rod himself writhing around after a Shawn Camp fastball eluded his elbow pad and caused his left hand to go (momentarily) dead.
I think I see what he’s doing here. Is this supposed to be a comment on the Yankees being unable to prevent injuries to players? Because if it is, I’m convinced. Instead of all this innings limit shit, they should just release Joba and throw Sabathia out there every night. There’s no way to predict injuries! Who the hell are you to say that CC’s arm will fall off if he has to throw 45 straight games?
And it wasn’t until after the game that we learned Mariano Rivera’s priceless right shoulder had awakened up “cranky,” as 40-year-old shoulders sometimes do.
“Awakened up”? Really?
Still, they can’t survive the loss of their Big Four – Jeter, A-Rod, Posada and Rivera – and right now, it sure looks like the only thing that can stop them is injuries.
That’s right. There’s no way this team could possibly see October unless those four players all play the entire season. Especially A-Rod and Jorge.
But no one can stop injuries, not even the Yankees, despite their silly plan to restrict Chamberlain’s total regular-season innings to 160, which means from here on, he will pitch once a week, or less.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/glossary/index.php?mode=viewstat&stat=495
His next turn doesn’t come up until Wednesday in Oakland, meaning he will have gone seven days between starts. “We’re just trying to be smart about it,” Girardi said. “We’re not trying to overwork him his first time in the rotation for the whole year. There’s a history that has been studied by our people and this is what we feel is best.”
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/volqued01.shtml
The Yankees’ “studies” seem to have omitted guys such as Tom Seaver, Bob Gibson, Warren Spahn and Nolan Ryan, all of whom threw 200-plus inning seasons at tender ages and went on to long, essentially injury-free careers, and ignored many of his contemporaries, such as Justin Verlander, Tim Lincecum and Felix Hernandez, who have done the same early in their careers so far without incident.
Let’s ignore the Verducci Effect for a minute so that Edinson Volquez and Cole Hamels can rest up. Matthews also seems to have overlooked the metric fuckton of pitchers who were overworked as kids and were washed up before they turned 33. Guys like Don Drysdale, Catfish Hunter, Vida Blue, Fernando Valenzuela, Dave Stieb and Pedro Martinez, to list some pitchers Matthews may recognize.
And they overlook the case history of Joba’s teammate, A.J. Burnett, who also was babied early in his career but still has suffered one injury after another.
So much for scientific “studies.” If a guy is going to get hurt, he’s going to get hurt, and no amount of coddling is going to prevent it, because at some point, they all have to go out on the field and play.
Unless that guy is Carl Pavano.
And then, anything can happen. And besides, if the Yankees are so concerned about limiting Joba’s innings, why’d they ever take him out of the bullpen?
Shit like this is why nobody reads Newsday.
It all raises the specter of something darker, for instance: Are the Yankees and Joba hiding an injury and hoping to nurse it along by using him as little as possible? Or do they suspect something about Joba that compels them to treat him as if he’s made of glass and envelope him in Bubble Wrap between starts?
No, dumbshit. They’ve just got good enough memories to recall two can’t-miss young pitchers named Mark Prior and Kerry Wood.
And, would they be this cautious with him if they were, say, 51/2 games behind the Red Sox rather than 51/2 games in front.
Shouldn’t that end with a question mark?
“We know how important the standings are,” Girardi said. “But we’re not going to get caught up in a moment. This is a plan for five, 10 years down the road. We’re not going to risk his health.”
Worried about your health? Then don’t play. Wednesday, in the course of a relatively uneventful ballgame, the core of the team, and the Yankees season, nearly went down.
Unfortunately, injuries are part of the game, a part not even the Yankees can control.
And that’s why the Yankees have now banned batting helmets.