Joba: Thanks for your support
-
- April
- 20
At least count, about 50 people e-mailed during the last week asking me to pass along their good wishes to the Chamberlain family. Many others expressed similar thoughts on the blog.
Obviously I didn’t want to disturb Joba while he was attending to his father. But after the game tonight, I had a chance to tell him about it.
He seemed genuinely touched.
“Do me a favor and tell those people I said thanks,” he said. “It really means a lot to me that people care about my father. I know a lot of prayers were sent our way and I appreciate it. Man, it was great how the guys on the team were, the fans, everybody, really. I love them all. A buddy of mine back home said Red Sox fans were on a site saying they were pulling for my dad. It’s great that people are like that.”
Joba said his dad should be home by Tuesday and at a game sometime soon. Mr. Chamberlain has had a series of health issues in his life and hopefully he’ll get a chance to see his son play in the big leagues for a good long time.
I was one of the first reporters to interview Mr. Chamberlain last year and after I hung up, he called me back a few minutes later and gave me his address because he wanted to see the story. I sent it out and when I had a chance to meet him in person a few weeks later, he shook my hand.
“You sent me that newspaper,” he said. “It’s in the scrapbook. I liked it.”
Not to get too corny on you, but that’s why I wanted to do this for a living. It’s great how Mr. Chamberlain has opened up and shared his story with so many people. It’s one of the reasons Joba is so popular with the fans.
Well, that and the 100-mph heater. That doesn’t hurt.
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on Sunday, April 20th, 2008 at 2:03 am by Peter Abraham.
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Peter Abraham
Joba gets it.. If anyone deserves to enjoy the fruits of their labor, it’s Harlan Chamberlain being able to watch his son pitch in the majors.
Great to hear Mr. Chamberlain is doing better.
I’m just in school now and I hope to join the profession in some way later on, but I understand what you’re saying Pete. Connecting on a personal level is such a great thing. Hopefully Harlan is at the Stadium long enough for me to get the chance to interview him in the future.
http://yankeesin2008.wordpress.com/
I’m so glad Mr. Chamberlain is doing better. GREAT news that he may be home by Tuesday!! Prayers still go out to him, Joba, and their family.
Joba is a great kid and it really sucks that his father has these health problems. My prayers go out to them.
I’m glad that he’s pulling through this. Hopefully he’ll be seeing Joba blowing people away with a heater soon.
Continued thoughts and prayers to Mr. Chamberlain and all his family, from me and all mine.
Looked like he was only hurling like 92-93 tonight, unless the YES radar is way off, which is a possibility. It looked faster than that.
YES said 91-93 but gameday was saying 97-99
Yeah, a great story and a 100-mph fastball seems to be the key to popularity
big jf - the YES gun was off about 4-5 mph last night, it has IPK at 85, RO in the very low 90s, and Joba around 93 all night
That’s one of the things that I so like about you, Pete: you see and appreciate the quality folks around you — that’s simply because you, too, are are some of the “good folk” out there.
Hey so this is unrelated, but i was thinking a different way to wake this offense up…
#1 stick damon on the bench with giambi
Posada first base
Get gardner and put him in left field or put him in center move melky to right and put abreau in left to optimize outfield D.
Lineup:
Jeter - Abreau - Arod - Matsui - Posada - Cano - Molina - melky - gardner
Speed at top and bottom, better defense, best of all no old lefties that are hitting around the mendoza line.
When Shelly can come back and posada catch……duncan 1st
Might wake up the lineup, gardner has been getting extra base hits in the minors to prove he can cut it here and more speed prevents prolonged offensive slumps and god knows our pitching could use as much help as it could get right now.
Gardner is a nice fast guy. But he isn’t what this team needs right now. They need better outings from their starters.
Pete great post on Joba and his pop. Great to see he is getting better. In a time where there is so much separation between fan and player, it’s great to see a writer who is able to connect them a bit more.
Can’t put Posada at first base. It cost them a run last night.
Can’t have 2 catchers in the lineup. One reason the lineup looks and plays dead.
Wanna wake up the offense? Its not by having 2 catchers in the lineup. It slows it to a crawl.
One thing they need to do is find a real first baseman. You would think a team that has spent over a billion bucks in salary over the last 6 years can have a real first baseman on the roster.
Doesn’t have to be a superstar. It has to be a guy who can make the plays. Minky told Cashman he would be back with the Yankees by Memorial Day. Something tells me he may be right.
Platooning Minky and Shelley Duncan at first, with Minky being the late inning defensive replacement, is a helluva lot better than what they have right now.
Can’t have a DH (Giambi), OF (Duncan), a 3B Betemit and Ensberg, or a C (Posada) as your primary first basemen. Its not going to work.
If you are going to have young pitching, you have to make defense a priority.
I see Girardi was ticked off last night. I hope he was ticked off for the right reasons.
Yes, Kennedy’s start was maddening last night. However, he’s a young pitcher and that goes with the territory. If they don’t have the stomach for it? Send him to Scranton, put Joba in the rotation, move Ohlendorf to the 8th inning, and make Darrel Rasner the long man.
Tell you what was more maddening to me. The play of Johnny Damon and the total mail in performance from the offense the last two nights.
Damon was a complete dog last night. From getting picked off in the first inning (on a completely dumb play), to dogging it into second on Melky’s FC, to taking 2 86 MPH fastballs for called strikeouts, he was worse than Kennedy last night.
Kennedy has an excuse. He’s a rookie. What’s Damon’s excuse?
That’s unacceptable to me.
If that’s what we are going to see this year from him, its Brett Gardner time and Damon can be a reserve.
Re: Girardi….Its ok to be mad but, be mad for the right reasons.
Get to the off day on Monday and its time to address the roster issues. The construction of the roster is coming back to bite them in the butte right now.
Time to change it.
They need a long man, first baseman and leadoff man. April or not, they can fix most of what’s broken from within. They will have to go outside the organization to get a first baseman to platoon with Duncan.
Its just a question of when you do it because its going to have to be done at some point this season.
The pitching is one problem…. the hitting is also a major problem. Even if Wang threw a 9 inning 1 run game he would have lost.
The issue with minky is thats one more roster spot. Ideally id have posada catch [and supposedly that will be this week], and Duncan/Ensberg can play a decent first base. I do agree Damon has to either sit, be traded or just smacked to wake up because its absurd.
Olendorf is there long man right now and quite a good one. I honestly think that their pen is the least of the problems right now although id really like them to just release hawkins… there are so many guys in AAA that can do that job and just because he’s a “veteran” doesnt make him worth it.
I dont understand the problem with kennedy - he’s doing the opposite of what made him successful last year. While i do think he and Hughes will be fine… having 3 guys pitch less than 5 innings is a big problem.
. Girardi needs to take Damon aside and tell him he’s seen enough of his lackadaisical play, and sly smirk on his face. Laughing in the 9th inning is not a funny matter with the present state of the team. Bench Damon indefinitely. This will make a statement on Girardi’s part as to how losing Damon style is not accepted or tolerated.
. The Yankees will have to face reality in that the team is a 22-man roster and Giambi, Damon, and Mussina have severely declined and are virtually useless. The 1st opportunity to rid them on the roster should be acted upon.
. The infusion of energy Shelley Duncan and Brett Gardner bring are needed - NOW.
. Before Ian Kennedy’s confidence takes a hit, send him down for a few AAA starts to find himself. Darrell Rasner should be given the chance.
. Slot Joba in for Mussina’s next start. Consider last night a side session for Joba in preparation for the start. Keep Mussina hidden in the bullpen or for junk / mop up duties.
“Minky told Cashman he would be back with the Yankees by Memorial Day.”
Could this have anything to do with the Betemit to the Pirates talk that was floating around?
My prayers go out to the Chamberlain family.
Good lineup:
Melky 8
Jeter 6
Abreu 9
Rodriguez 5
Matsui DH
Posada 2
Cano 4
Duncan 3
Damon/Gardner 7
“Not to get too corny on you, but that’s why I wanted to do this for a living. ”
Pete, you’re a good man.
108 some good comments but you cannot bring Joba into the rotation now… he cannot pitch 90% of a season in the rotation he’s tear his arm to shreds. Plus… there is no guarantee Joba would adjust well he’s still young.
SJ44,
What do you think is the realistic chance that Shelley will be with the team soon and by when? Do you think he’ll get to stay permanently or only when someone goes on the DL? Do you think he’ll be the first permanent bench player to get called up if Betemit does get traded? Thanks!
Hughes and Kennedy will improve if the offense gets going and the defense tightens up. They are trying too hard to be perfect. They aren’t getting any help out of the gate and unless they were already aces and pitched one,two run games they would still be getting the loss. April is not the Yankees’ month. Even last year with A-Rod blasting a ridiculous 14 homers they stunk April up. This team will turn it around by June.
Lineup:
Jeter - Abreau - Arod - Matsui - Posada - Cano - Molina - melky - gardner
Obviously, we are all disappointed with JD and Jason, and are looking for an alternative. Some things to keep in mind.
Can JD be any worse… or might he get better? I personally think he MAY be done, but he at least has a history of success. Can Brett be BETTER then JD? I don’t know, but I don’t think his numbers tell us he can.
Giambi is UNPOPUALR with a lot of people. I don’t think it is wise to ignor that even WITH all his health problems, he has posted a .930 OPS with the Yankees. This is 2nd best on the team, behind ARod.
He is healthy and in better shape then he has been in years. He was very good in ST. His bat looks a little slower to me, but he has still made solid contact a lot, and has made outs ‘into the shift’ and with 370′+ fly balls (mostly to CF).
Maybe Shelly will be a miracle and overcome a 7 year MiLB history where he posted a .822 OPS. Jason did this at his worst. Duncan is not a good fielder, and is almost a one-dimensional as Giambi. He may be a good RH bat against lefties (which is only 20% of SPs), but I can’t see him being better then Giambi.
Also, as poor as Giambi’s D is, he is very good with scoops, and has already saved a number of errors. Posada will NOT NOT be better on D at first, and probably MUCH worse.
Giambi is still taking walks and his OBP is .170 higher then his BA. If he hits .240, he might still be close to a .400 OBP guy. Our best bet is to play Giambi and give him EVERY POSSIBLE OPPORTUNITY TO SUCCEED, as this lineup could certainly use his OBP and HR power. Put Shelly at 1B against lefties? Maybe be worth it. But 80% of the time with RH pitchers, do you really believe Shelly will produce more then Giambi?
By the way, even in Shelly’s GREAT debut last year, his OPS against RH pitching was .801. By the time MLB pitchers scout him, it will be below .750.
I would give Giambi until AT LEAST June 1 before making a decision to bench him. I don’t think any of you would bench Big Papi, Soriano, or any number of proven quality players who have gotten off to slow starts.
last may 1 i wrote this fictional conversation to go with an old photo of me talking to george.
“…george, i’m telling you, it’s a lousy back up catcher, crummy first base platoon, no starter to eat up innings, an inexperienced conditiong staff that injures players,and a weak bench in general. if you want to get things going, tell cashman to spend some of your money and get some good role players for joe. besides getting coffee for you when you’re around, what else did you hire him for?
the back up catcher problem is solved.
the first base platoon problems unchanged.
starters who consistently eat up innings is more of a hope than reality
despite girardi’s personal impact on the conditioing, the yankee conditioning staff is led by one of the least qualified of all conditioning coaches. it is not world class by any means.
the bench is still weak as too many roster spots are taken up to cover the lack of a real first baseman.
this is the time of the year when cashman has his feet to the fire and as it gets hotter, he makes moves. last year it was bringing up hughes, firing the conditioning coach, and signing clemens.
there’s no hughes or clemens waiting in the wings this year , so what moves does cashman make?
what i’d do asap:
-put gardner in left field to wipe the grin off of soft johnny damon’s face( even if it’s just for a few days or weeks)
-put alberto gonzalez at second base and sit cano’s lackadaisical butt on the bench( same reason as for damon)
-start shelly duncan at first base
-start stretching out joba’s to roll him out as the #3 starter asap.
-have a competiton between kennedy and mussina for the #5 starter role. loser to long man.
-ohlendorf to the 7th and 8th
the bench now has molina, damon, giambi, and cano, and ensberg. oh, by the way, some of them get grumpier as each day goes by . good.
girardi will have to manage his butt off, but that’s as good away as any to get rid of his anger that’s been building up making him look like he’s channeling billy martin during a bad time.
the yankees also should have a team meeting tell the team that they apologize for not having a world class conditioning coach, but they’ll just have to do the best they can with what they have. this will make each player realize like new orleans flood victims that they are on their own which will take away the illusion that everything is ok with their athleticism. ( and stick with dan cavalea because he’s a good assistant conditiong coach and pay for his continuing education so he’ll catch up with other team’s head conditioning coaches )
the first day these changes roll out the energy level jumps instantly. they may still lose ,but damon won’t be smiling during losses , giambi won’t be chatting and saying nice hit to runners at first after they get game winning hits against the yankees, and cano will have time to call larry bowa and tell him what a #5%6%# girardi is.
in other words, a fire will be lit under some butts that need it.
… and make these changes on the day that wang starts and pettitte follows( moves always look better with your best pitchers starting)
So glad to hear Joba’s dad is doing better!
Great to have Joba back on board and really great news about Mr. Chamberlain.
Here is the way I look at it….
You go into the season with a roster. You put it together with the best of intentions. However, stuff happens once the season starts and you have to address the deficiencies.
Obviously, you can’t predict your starting first baseman (Giambi) is going to hit .130 and look totally done.
You can’t predict your leadoff man (Damon) would be hitting under .200 and looks like he is dogging it every night.
You can’t predict your backup middle infielder (Betemit) can’t see and ends up on the DL.
You can’t predict your starting catcher (Posada) gets hurt and can’t throw.
You can’t predict both your young guns (Hughes and Kennedy) would have 9 ERA’s right now.
The schedule? No doubt its an issue and this team looks very tired right now.
However, the above issues I have described are hurting them MUCH more than the schedule.
The question is, how do you address the problems?
Do you wait them out or do you proactively address as many of them as you can right now?
Frankly, I’m very patient with young players. I have ZERO patience with veteran players. None, zip, nada.
I have no loyalty to guys like Giambi and Damon. The organization has paid them a TON of money and have put up with all the BS. The steroid stuff, the lackadasical play, the “I may retire” talk, all of it.
Unlike Mike Mussina who has performed quite well in his entire career in pinstripes, both Giambi and Damon have taken a lot more than they have given to this organization. Especially in recent years.
I see no reason, other than financial, as to why the Yankees have to show these guys any loyalty.
If they can’t play, sit’em or waive them.
I know that sounds harsh. However, if you want to grow with young players, than you are going to have to show them that no matter your service time in the game, you are going to be held accountable for your play.
You draw an eight figure salary and play like a dog, you go to the bench or you go to the waiver wire.
If you are young and are timid in the strikezone? You work with the player to correct it. Whether that’s in AAA or at the major league level.
I don’t like dogs. IMO, there are some guys on this team who believe, for contractual reasons, they have a long leash.
I say, nip that problem in the bud now. That has to be dealt with immediately, IMO.
If not, it becomes a cancer inside the entire team.
We saw it last year. They let some guys slide WAY too long with their dog-like play.
Can’t do that this year.
I am a huge Girardi fan. Like the young pitchers, I think he is going to do very well down the line.
That said, if this was a Joe Torre-led team, and they performed in the dog fashion they performed like last night, we would be all over Torre and rightly so.
As I said earlier, I get that Girardi is mad. But, be mad for the right reasons and use Monday as more than just a day off.
Use it as Day One to fix a disjointed roster and send a message that dog play will not be tolerated.
That was nice of you, Pete. What a fine you man.
Opps What a fine young man.
OYF,
There is a big difference between Jason Giambi and Big Papi and Soriano. He doesn’t produce like those players and hasn’t for years.
We look at Giambi and think about what he was. We have to look at him at what he is now.
22 million dollars to draw walks? Sorry but, that’s not good enough.
The Red Sox and Cubs also have a lot of money invested in Ortiz and Soriano.
This is Giambi’s last year with the Yankees. The Yankees don’t have to wait on Giambi. Giambi has to get his butt in gear.
If not, there is no logical reason, other than financial, why he should be on the roster.
His presence on this roster clogs it and makes it a disjointed roster.
He’s only on it to hit. If he can’t hit, bye bye.
One other point. If Girardi wants to manage with a different lineup every night, that’s ok.
Then give him a roster that offers that type of flexibility.
Two catchers in the lineup? Sorry but, that’s nuts.
If you want a flexible lineup, you need to have flexible players on the roster.
It’s amazing how much talk was generated over the Santana deal that we didn’t make when to me, the talk should have been about the Minky deal that we didn’t make. If the Yankees are smart, they will contact the Pirates and get Minky back. The 1B situation is killing us. Play Minky at first. Yes, he’s not the greatest hitter in the world, but he’s got a fantastic glove that’s going to save us runs. We need a real first basemen.
Do you wait them out or do you proactively address as many of them as you can right now? Frankly, I’m very patient with young players. I have ZERO patience with veteran players. None, zip, nada.
————————————————————
If you said this last year, by June 1, which was plenty of time, Cano, Abreu and JD would all be on the bench. Yet all 3 played a role in our 2nd half comeback.
Giambi posted a .971 OPS in 2006.
His OPS was over .900 last year before his bone spur.
Mind you, he MIGHT be done. I’m not ruling it out.
And if we had a 2009 AJax or Tabata available, that would be a different story.
But who replaces Giambi that might post a .850 OPS?
I don’t think Shelly as a RH batter can.
There is nothing in his history that indicates this.
Shelly is neither a good defender or baserunner.
It is not a question of loyalty or how much he gets paid.
It is not a question of Giambi being in Papi’s or Sori’s class.
The question is: What is a better alternative?
I’m just saying we need to give Jason enough time to PROVE HE IS DONE before we bench him, because the alternatives are just not that good.
It’s the same with Moose. Bench him? Well sure… if we have a better alternative. And maybe Rasner, or some other kid, can be better then Moose.
When we face LH pitching, I would put Ensberg at 1st and try Shelly in the OF instead of JD. But I don’t think this is a better option against RH pitching UNLESS we are sure. SURE… that Jason and JD are done. And we can’t know that for sure in APRIL!
Honestly, OYF, you know what I would do? I would waive him.
I really would. Here me out on this…..
There is no downside to waiving Giambi from the Yankees perspective. He isn’t going to hit like he did in 2006.
Honestly, he hasn’t been the same player since he blew out his wrist in Seattle in 2006. He’s a shell of his former self.
He can’t play first base. Matsui is the DH. So, where does he play? That’s of course, based on whether he hits and he isn’t hitting.
If the team is worried about a contending team in the AL picking him off the waiver wire, it won’t happen. The Red Sox, Blue Jays, Indians, Tigers and Mariners all have DH’s.
The Angels? If they pick him up, the Yankees are off the hook on his contract. Even if they do, does anybody really think he has so much left in the tank that he is going to make a difference in the race?
His presence on the roster creates a tremendous amount of inflexibilty.
Who will make up his production? Frankly, you don’t need his production as much in the Yankee lineup because you have other offensive players in it.
Instead of looking at his 2006 production, look at his production from the time he hurt his wrist in Seattle in August 2006 to right now. Its awful. To me, that’s the relevent part of his evaluation right now.
You need a real first baseman. That’s more important than hoping for Giambi’s production to increase.
I say, go get Minky from the Pirates and have him share time with Duncan at first base. For the overall betterment of the team, that’s a better combination than having Giambi on the roster.
Is it a bold and somewhat controversial move? Yes.
But, when you break it down, its a no lose move, except for the financial side of it, for the Yankees.
From a pure baseball perspective, knowing that even if he was productive, he is not going to be back next year (which is the case), it makes sense to cut bait with him now.
To me, the only thing waiting does is cost you more games until you have to do the inevitable with him.
from the last post -”send a message that dog play will not be tolerated.”
that’s essentially what i mean by “light a fire under their butts”
girardi will not put up with mailing it in. it’s not in his nature. the next few weeks will be interesting in the same way waiting for fireworks to begin is interesting.
glad there is an afternoon game to get rid the hangover of a yankee loss and a red sox win which is no way to start off a sunday morning.
The way Shelley is raking in the minor leagues, he’s praying for Posada to be ready to catch again. As soon as Moeller gets sent back down, he’s getting called up.