Mar 26 2009
JOBA TO GET ANOTHER START, C.C. TO GET #1 NOD
Happy Thursday folks, almost Friday! Thank the lord. As we come closer to opening day (11 days) in Baltimore, Joe Girardi is feeling confident about sending newly acquired C.C. Sabathia to the mound to kick off 2009. He will start both the real opener, and then the home-opener according to Joe. As the big guy steps onto the rubber April 6th, some may have memories similar to when Ron Guidry was around in the 70’s - a hard-throwing lefty in his prime, not afraid to face any line-up that stood in front of him. C.C. was excited to hear that he’s definitely getting the start, and he seems to be taking a lot of pride in it. There’s something special to starting opening day for the New York Yankees, and there will be a ton of adrenaline racing through his veins, that’s for sure.
The Yanks didn’t play yesterday, but today Joba Chamberlain will take the ball and get some more work in before the season gets started, taking on the Phils. It’ll be Joba’s 5th start of the spring, and he seems to be getting more and more comfortable as the dates pass by. I know the starter/reliever debate will never end, but as long as he learns to be efficient and can stay healthy and all, I don’t see any reason why Joba can’t win at least 13-15 games as the 5th starter. However, there’s the concern of the max # of innings being placed on him, so I’m not sure if that can allow him to win a lot of games. I think it’s time to take off the training-wheels, and let him pitch. Same goes for Hughes - when he gets called up again, LET HIM PITCH.
There may be a slight tweak in today’s line-up, as Girardi is flip-flopping Damon and Jeter. I don’t see any real issue with leading off Jeter, he’s got enough discipline to do it, and he still runs the bases pretty well. Damon’s clearly got more power, and can get on base enough, but the only thing would be that you’d have back-to-back lefties hitting with Tex behind him (if facing a righty pitcher). It’s an interesting idea, but I don’t think it will last very long - Gardner will be in the lead-off spot when all is said and done, and Damon will probably be on the DL before we know it.
In our last piece of news for the day, apparently we’re still open to trading Melky for the right offer, even before the season begins. I think they should keep him around for depth if nothing else, I mean he’s still got very good range and a great arm. He’d be a very solid 4th outfielder, not many teams have a guy they could stick in like that. Plus he’s a switch-hitter with some power, so he and Swish would be a couple of nice bats off the bench.
