Last night Joba Chamberlain contributed the longest start of his career. In the process he gave up two runs on just four hits while striking out five. It was one of Joba's best starts of his career and was much needed coming off one poor start which was proceeded by an early exit thanks to a liner off the knee. In return it should hush some of the critis, ie. Mike Francessa, who have been so adiment that he should be put in the bullpen because he's "proven" to be a dominant reliever and has not done so as a starter. Care to check the stats Mike?In 22 career starts spanning the past two seasons Joba has posted a 3.19 ERA. That's all star level coming from anyone nevermind a 23 year old. Obviously the innings per start can use improvement but the remaining numbers are screaming potential ace. Arguing that he hasn't been a very good starting pitcher is just stupid.
The point of this post is not really to banter about how the Yankees must keep Joba Chamberlain in the starting rotation, or that moving him to the bullpen would be moronic. The point is that no matter where they put him he's going to contribute and that giving up on him as a starting pitcher and saying he doesn't have the make up to start is certainly not the way to go.
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