Joba Built Like A Hut



AP

 It looks as if the 25 pounds CC Sabathia dropped during the off season after cutting ties with Captain Crunch went right to Joba Chamberlain's torso. Joba Rules, the set of innings-outings restrictions placed on Chamberlain when he first came up and blew batters away in 2007, never seemed to mention reporting to spring training looking like Fat Albert. According to The New York Daily News Chamberlain has put on 25-30 pounds and now weighs in at 250-260.

Chamberlain hasn't been the same pitcher since he hurt his shoulder in a game in Texas late in the 2008 season. After getting pulled, he went on the DL and since then lost anywhere between 7-9 mph off his fastball. I remember watching his Yankees debut when he came in relief against the Blue Jays and hit 100 on several pitches.

Could he be trying to gain some of that heat back by getting fat? David Wells had a nice career going that route, but most pitchers can't. You have more weight behind your throws, but you feel slow and your reaction time slows down too. But the man he has to impress the most, GM Brian Cashman doesn't appear to be convinced right off the bat. “He's heavier, he's heavier” said Cashman. Manager Joe Girardi, who will have to balance a pitching staff better than those guys who used to balance spinning saucers on the old Ed Sullivan Show said it's never good for a young man like Chamberlain to put on that many pounds, but the bottom line will be performance.

All of this can't be but another negative for a career that has quickly spiraled downward. After his awesome major league debut, Hank Steinbrenner came out and basically said anyone who doesn't think Joba should start is as moron. I have to admit that I was one of those morons. Starting stuff and relieving stuff are two very different things. The biggest adjustment is endurance. You have to take something off and pace yourself if you're going to pitch six or seven innings as opposed to one or two. His 100 mph heat shown during one or two innings can't be sustained by most hard throwers over six or seven. And with Chamberlain it quickly showed. In 2008 and 2009 he went 13-9 in 43 starts and his 4.75 ERA in 2009 must have had Hank scratching his head like Homer Simpson.

So it comes down to whether Joba's extra weight will add another 5-6 mph to his fastball or end up making him even more dead weight than he has already become. Mariano is still Mariano, and now they have Rafael Soriano as the bridge. That leaves Joba battling David Robertson for the seventh innings setup role. My bet is on Joba losing the extra pounds and developing an out pitch or getting mentally ready to have the clubhouse man fit him for another uniform – an xxl without pinstripes.