TAMPA — The Joba Rules will now become the Joba Lessons.
With Joba Chamberlain heading back to the eighth inning, what can the Yankees learn from his handling to apply this year to Phil Hughes? The soon-to-be-named No. 5 starter will have innings restrictions in 2010 just as surely as Chamberlain did in 2009, when he was the No. 5 starter.
Chamberlain was permitted to throw 163 1/3 innings between the regular and postseason after amassing 100 1/3 the year before. Hughes worked 110 1/3 innings last season, including the postseason. So expect Hughes to be allowed roughly a 50-60-inning increase, which would mean a 170-inning maximum.
There is one mitigating factor. Hughes did throw 146 innings as a minor leaguer in 2006, and Chamberlain never pitched a whole professional season as a starter before. Still, a minor league season is just five months, so the Yankees will be cautious with a property as valuable to them as Hughes.
“It is a tough balancing act because you are trying to protect and win at the same time,” pitching coach Dave Eiland said.
As with Joba, the front office will give the inning’s cap to manager Joe Girardi and Eiland, and let them create a strategy. Last season, Girardi and Eiland wanted to restrain Chamberlain’s innings more in the first half. But it was tough not to use Joba every fifth game. Chien-Ming Wang was a mess, and Chamberlain went from the fifth starter to No. 4. The bullpen was not fixed until Hughes became a reliever in June. And the team struggled early in the standings.
So it was not really until the second half that Joba was pulled artificially early from starts. That seemed to confuse both him and the clubhouse. So even Girardi agreed it is better — if possible — to restrain early rather than late. That should be easier this year with extra starters and a more appealing bullpen. Here are three scenarios the Yankees could deploy:
1. Barring a rainout, the Yankees do not need a fifth starter until April 17, the 11th game of the year. So the Yankees can option Hughes to the minors until then, where it will be less controversial if they limit Hughes to a couple of prescribed, four-inning starts. At the same time, while their veteran starters also are still building up arm strength and stamina, the Yankees could add an eighth reliever, probably a second lefty in Boone Logan.
2. Again barring a rainout, the Yankees have every Monday in April off. That means they need a fifth starter just twice. So they can option Hughes to the minors for a month and use either Alfredo Aceves or Sergio Mitre to start those two games.
The benefits are again having eight relievers early plus modulating Hughes’ innings away from major league scrutiny. It also is a reward for either Aceves or Mitre, who both have pitched well in trying to win the fifth starter job. Then Hughes could be summoned to start May 1 vs. the White Sox, and he can pitch pretty much as a regular starter from there forward.
3. This is the one the Yankees seem to be leaning toward most: Limit Hughes to four-inning starts early, and take advantage that Aceves and Mitre are both stretched out, so one of them could back up those starts. Heck, even Chamberlain is stretched out and can give the Yankees some extra innings early, and Chan Ho Park has starting in his background and can give multiple innings early, as well.
The danger is that if the Yankees’ veteran starters begin slowly then the pen will have to soak up a lot of innings besides those needed behind Hughes, which could threaten some early relief burnout. That is why I favor Plan 2.
Nevertheless, the most applicable lesson from the Joba Rules is about making firm plans or as Girardi said, “The thing I take from last year is it is not going to go according to the way you map it out.”