I’m not sure about whether or not he was in shape, but the shoulder injury almost certainly affected his offseason throwing program, so I have thought that arm strength has been an issue all season…at least I hope that’s it.

There was a good little league pitching article in the NYtimes a few weeks ago that went into how the recovery from muscle microtears guides MLB pitcher management (and hasn’t been used in Little League).

In recent Joba comments he seemed really pleased with the predictability of his regimen and understanding (if somewhat frustrated) about the innings limit. This compares favorably to his reaction to the long rest strategy they wanted to try before.

based on their total inability to evaluate major league pitching

Um, no… There have been a lot more effective pitchers on the Yanks during the Cashman era than haven’t.

[6] Not really, but they tried it last year with Hughes, Kennedy, & Chamberlain on the staff. I don’t know why they didn’t try something similar this year. I have nothing to back this up, but I think Chamberlain may have shown up out of shape and doesn’t have the necessary stamina to be a starter at this time. I’m more annoyed with Hughes use than Joba’s

[11] There were a number of injuries to the 2007 pitching staff, that led to Hughes, Kennedy & Chamberlain being called up.

[14] Same here, it’s not like he was terrible as a starter either. IIRC the move was sold as the Yanks having too many starters, and a void in the pen with Gossage going to SD. I think the move was supposed to be temporary.

[16] Rags left as a FA (the Jints signed him), he wasn’t traded.

[17] Even so, there wasn’t this much back and forth with Pettitte, Hitchcock and the like when they were called up. Even other teams around the league start their pitchers in the pen, then move them to the rotation. Some of them actually start their pitchers in the rotation.

This is the plan? To burn the “long man” the day before Joba will be on a very strict innings limit?

It appears Aceves is the long man, or that Gaudin/Aceves/Mitre are some combination 5th starter/long man. Whether that’s part of the grand plan, I cannot say.

But to play along–the entire season the Yankees claimed to have a plan to limit Joba’s innings, and yet nothing emerged. In fact, one widely assumed part of any plan–that Hughes would take over some starting innings–evaporated when he was moved to the pen, and we must agree that this was an ad hoc decision, not part of any plan.

Then it was decided to, it seems, to skip a some of Joba’s starts. Maybe this was part of the plan all along, who knows. And he responded well, throwing some strong games after the ASG when he was on extended rest. Then the plan was to pitch Joba occasionally on extended rest, but he had a couple of bad starts, so now it is decided to pitch him on regular rest but limit his innings. Yet there as much evidence to suggest that throwing him on extended rest worked (e.g. after the ASG) as much as it didn’t (e.g., recent starts). So I have a hard time believing that any careful observation went into the most recent modification of the supposed pre-existing plan.

At the same time, the Joba “plan” cannot be viewed in a vacuum, but must be seen in conjunction with other personnel moves, especially concerning Mitre, Gaudin, and, yes, Hughes. Let’s give them a pass on Hughes. What was an ad hoc and essentially unplanned decision to move Hughes to the pen (stemming largely from Joba getting hit by a line drive and the team overreacting) has evolved into the incredible disappearing Hughes eighth inning guy thing. OK, I accept that. Yet all the while, the use of Mitre and Gaudin has been perplexing: Mitre failed his way into more starts, both flipped in and out of the rotation, and most recently, Gaudin was used–indeed burned–in a blowout the day before the team was going to use Joba for three innings. This is the plan? To burn the “long man” the day before Joba will be on a very strict innings limit?

Meanwhile, I actually like the current plan of regular starts with limited innings. It’s so obvious, in fact, one wonders why they didn’t go with this plan all along. Again, I have trouble believing that this is because of master strategic planning with careful tactical adaptations.

Phil is in the BP because we need him there in order to Win Now. His development becomes the secondary issue. The Joba rules? Why not let him pitch a regular routine until he hits 145 IP and then close him down (like the other 29 teams would do)? Because we need him for the PS (and his 160+ IP). The Joba rules are really the Win Now rules. Joba’s development becomes the secondary issue.

That’s the catch. Every other team would make a Joba and a Phil their #1 priority. But the Yanks ALWAYS have a fixed #1 priority. And THEN, everything else comes 2nd.