You must be reading too much into my comments…let me state for the record, that I do not have a low opinion about Joba-far from it!

And I agree he has moxie-which is why he would have continued to excel in the Pen and would have someday taken over the reigns of closer…

How does that translate to a low opinion?

Driving to the ballpark has some element of risk for Joba. But no one is suggesting that he lives there.

Many starters have started their big league careers in the bullpen. Just like Joba!

I have to go to bed or I’ll start crying just thinking about Joba being sad. Goodnight.

“To me leaving Joba at the back of the pen definitively fills one important role, while leaving Mussina, Rasner, Kennedy, Hughes and Horne to mix and match at the back of the rotation. Moving him from the pen throws all our balls in the air.”

Excellent point, and I might add, leaving Joba in the pen takes the pressure off of Mo and gives us more 7th inning options if necessary…

Still, the way they are handling Joba, while there is some precedent, is not conventional…and therefore there is a greater element of risk…

How many have gone the route of reliever, starter, then reliever again? My guess would be not many…

I disagree. Moving Joba to the rotation basically bets the season on two things happening:

1. Joba will hit the ground running and pitch superbly as a starter. (Something that Clemens, R. Johnson, Maddux, Glavine, Schilling, P. Martinez, and a host of other Hall of Famers, not to mention Hughes and Kennedy, did not do.)

and

2. That some combination of perennial punching bags (Farnsworth, Hawkins), career minor leaguers (Edwar, Patterson, ohlendorf) and wet-behind-the-ears rehab cases (Melancon, Cox) are going to get the toughest outs, in the tightest circumstances, in the heat of a Bronx pennant race.

It’s much more likely that neither of those things will happen than that both will.

To me leaving Joba at the back of the pen definitively fills one important role, while leaving Mussina, Rasner, Kennedy, Hughes and Horne to mix and match at the back of the rotation. Moving him from the pen throws all our balls in the air.

Unfortunately I watched the game. And yes, I still think he’s injured. He got jammed on his hit, got lucky that it went up the middle, not hit very hard. The other hit, well, it was a bunt. He looks like he has something on his shoulder or arm, something slowing him down.

A. Is a soft tosser
B. Has a rep as this ground ball pitcher but isn’t
C. Single handedly sabotaged the Cubs in 2004
D. Could not get outs for Trenton

At least Farnsie has developed a new pitch and been better in the last month.

DFA “21″

did u see this guy in spring training