Brian Cashman has been one outspoken general manager recently. A couple of days after making the Derek Jeter/centerfield comments, the Yankees’ GM said people who question the club’s management of Joba Chamerlain are “stupid.”
From ESPN.com:
“Those people are stupid,” Cashman said of critics of the Yankees’ handling of Chamberlain. “It’s just an easy, stupid, idiotic thing to say. There’s no screwing anything up. That’s how Andy Pettitte came in, that’s how guys have been broken in for years. They’re starters in the minor leagues, they come up and we use them in the ‘pen, and eventually they break into the rotation. So what’s the problem? I just think it’s naïve.”
“Listen, he had a full chance to make a run at it [in spring training 2010], and he failed at it,” Cashman said. “His stuff does not play the same way as a starter anymore since the injury in Texas. He’s pedestrian as a starter but he still has pretty wicked stuff as a reliever. So his job is just to get outs when Joe calls on him. It’s as simple as that.”
On one hand, I don’t blame Cashman for being a little annoyed that he’s constantly asked about whether or not the Yankees screwed the pooch with Joba’s development. But part of his job is to answer questions about why a young starting pitcher with elite stuff has turned into a broken down old Chevy in a matter of a couple of seasons.
That said, pitchers get hurt and sometimes they never recover. It’s just part of the game. Just because Joba hasn’t turned into a dominant starter doesn’t mean that the Yankees mishandled him. Brien Taylor never panned out either and he was supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. It happens – guys get injured.
Ask the Cubs if they know anything about young pitchers who broke down too soon. It’s not just the Yankees who have had a stud not pan out. The good news is that Joba may wind up being a solid reliever and that’s better than nothing.
