The Joba Plan Continues

Joba pitched 2 innings and threw 40 pitches in an effort to get stretched out and ready for the rotation. Chamberlain wanted to come in for a third inning but Joe Girardi held him back and sent in Farnsworth instead. I'm a bit surprised that Joe didn't march him out to face at least one more batter, but I guess this is going to be a slow process, gradually increasing the pitch count.

Mike Mussina barely held on to a lead and ended up getting the win. The Farns had another off day, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits including a home run. It's really hard having a guy like Kyle on the team. He can pitch very well and can throw hard, but it seems a lot of hitters just plain have his stuff figured out.  When he's pitching well, he can be dominating, when he's not, he'll give up a lot of runs quickly. The unfortunate heart of the matter is that you cannot count on Kyle to deliver. You can put him in and hope he's having a good day, but there is little day-to-day consistency. There have been rumors that Farnsworth would take over as a setup man when Chamberlain went into the rotation, but I think that would be a horrible role for Kyle. He's more of a "use him whenever you think you can safely get away with it" type of pitcher than a setup man who you expect to be reliable.

Even though he's been iffy lately, I'd rather see a guy like Ohlendorf in the setup role. Veras is doing nicely and could do the job also.

On the other side, Yankee hitters have been coming to life, especially the struggling Cano and Giambi. If they continue to play at their current level for the rest of the season, they will both have respectable numbers. So I ask this: If Giambi and Cano have late season turnarounds and post decent numbers for the season, do you want them back? Giambi's contract is up at the end of the season, I'd still let him go personally. The free agent market for first basemen is looking very tempting with guys like Teixeira coming available.  Robbie Cano seems to make a habit of slow starts and I don't particularly like his fielding, but I'm not sure the Yankees really have any better options coming up through free agency. I would like to see Alberto Gonzalez get a lot more playing time, however and think he could turn out to be an everyday type of player.