Normally, I consider myself a pretty reasonable person. In general, I don’t let my emotions get the best of me. Most of the time, when confronted with something I don’t agree with, I’ll at least try to think it through and see the valid points of the opposition. As a rule, I try to avoid gut reactions. Yesterday, I broke that rule.

When I found out that Phil Hughes would be the fifth starter, via phone conversation with my girlfriend when I left my internship, I let loose an array of curses like few I’ve uttered before. I’m very angry about this.

Before going any farther, I want to say this: my ire is not to be taken as vitriol against Phil Hughes. I like Phil Hughes and I really hope he succeeds in the rotation. He’s got all the tools to do so, and I think he’ll prove himself well. Anyway, let me tell you all why I’m angry about this (it’s pretty predictable):

1. It makes me lose a bit of faith in the front office’s ability to decide how to best utilize talented players. The last two and a half years of Joba Chamberlain’s handling has been absolutely atrocious. Despite Joba’s success in the rotation in 2008, that year is almost a wasted year of development, if only because of his injury. Due to that injury, the attempted back loading of his innings looked even sillier than it did in the first place. He should have been starting from day one in 2008. That was the first major set back to his development; this is the second, and more major, hindrance. The handling of Phil Hughes in 2009 was also sketchy–he never should have been relieving. I fear that future big time prospect pitchers–Manny Banuelos, for example–will be mishandled in a similar fashion to Hughes and Chamberlain.

2. It’s short sighted. While either pitcher who lost the competition would be getting set back, it makes little sense for Chamberlain, who just pitched a full season and has been gradually broken in as a starter in the past two years, to be the one who takes a step back. Doing this now makes the 2011 Yankees a little weaker (discounting a huge FA pitcher contract that I don’t think is coming). Once again in 2011, the Yankees will have to play it safe with Joba-the-Starter (if he returns to that role, ugh). 2010 will be another year of lost development for Chamberlain. In the bullpen, he likely won’t be utilizing all of his pitches, but rather just his fastball and slider, which don’t really need that much work. This move, if made permanent, has the ability to be Dave Righetti Part Two.

3. It kills Chamberlain’s trade value. I have never wanted to trade either one of Chamberlain or Hughes, but I have to wonder now if the Yankees could get more value out of Joba by trading him now. However, the Yankees know Joba better than any other team. If they don’t believe that Chamberlain can handle being the fifth starter for two consecutive years, why would any team think that? Even if another team’s GM does believe (and properly so) that Chamberlain could be a good starter, why would he let that on? He’d likely “pretend”, so to speak, to be low on Joba and would not give up as much as he should. This move has made Joba basically un-tradeable.

Of course, there are ways that this catastrophe could be mitigated:
1. If a starter gets hurt and Chamberlain fills the role. Based on what the Yankees did with Phil Hughes/Chien-Ming Wang in 2009, this seems unlikely.
2. Chamberlain starts 2010 in Scranton-Wilkes Barre. This also seems unlikely in light of the Hughes/Wang situation of 2009 (I hope this is what happens, but I’m definitely not holding my breath).
3. Chamberlain’s role in the 2010 Yankee bullpen is not as a one-inning-and-done-closer-lite-role. If he does indeed pitch out of the ‘pen to start, ’10, I hope it is in an Alfredo Aceves type role, in which he can get multiple innings at a time. Again, though, this seems unlikely. The Yankees already have two long guys in Aceves and Mitre. Of course, it’s never a bad thing to have three guys who can go multiple innings out of the bullpen; but given the trends of current bullpen usage, it’s not likely that all three are used as multiple inning guys (I’m pining for the return of the 2-3 inning closer and using that as a way to break in young pitchers).

Basically, I’m pretty peeved about this. It does, however, make me realize how lucky I am as a Yankee fan. Most teams would kill to have one of Hughes/Chamberlain on their rosters; the Yankees have both. When your team’s biggest problem is which high-upside-ultra-talented you can put in the rotation, you know you’re pretty lucky.

So, in closing:
Dear Phil: Good luck; don’t forget about the curveball.
Dear Joba: Tough break, but blow ‘em away, anyway.
Dear Brian Cashman, Dave Eiland, and Joe Girardi: I hope you know what you’re doing. Do the right thing and send Joba to SWB to start the year.

First let me say this, I don’t have a huge problem with them choosing Hughes over Joba, but then again I was always agnostic on the Joba start/reliever debate. I thought both sides went way overboard with their positions. I’m old enough to remember what happened with Dave Righetti, who was a fine young starter (better than Joba’s been) for the Yanks in the early 1980′s who was shifted to the bullpen (with some hesitation on his part) that remained a closer the rest of his career. I respect how hard it is just to be a MLB player, there’s no shame in taking a lesser role, and the job of Closer that the Yanks will be grooming Joba for is vital on any winning team.

That being said, the process at which the Yanks arrived at this decision bugs me. The whole point of making a decision in Spring Training is that you have a few candidates who are very evenly matched and only one spot open. So youhave them fight it out and let the best man win. Not based on stats, but on how they’re throwing the ball. I seems to me like that happened here with Phil, but not Joba. Joba had the flu his first start, was still weak the next, then put up two good outings and even showed the efficiency the Yanks were looking for. The first two starts weren’t supposed to count anyway, they were all just rounding into shape. Did Joba ever really have a chance? Looks to me like this was Phil’s job to lose all the way, and that doesn’t sit well with me.

Now the folks who wanted Joba to start want him sent to AAA. This makes the least sense to me. They argue starters are more valuable than relievers, Joba was drafted as a starter, and that he should be given every chance to start to maximize his value before considering him a reliever. But all the same arguments could be made for Phil Hughes, and I doubt many of those same people would be arguing so vigorously to send him down to Scranton rather than reprise his stellar setup role from 09. I see this as another extension of the Joba debate, where fans have just become so entrenched on both sides that they’re ignoring facts to suit their position.

But here’s the reality. Once they signed Vazquez, they could only start one of these guys. Somebody was going to be disappointed. Sending Joba to AAA on a team loaded with 200 inning workhorses in the rotation makes little sense to me. Aceves can spot start, and Mitre has looked much better another year removed from TJ. Joba wouldn’t be a 6th starter in AAA, he’d be the 8th. Plus, you have AAA options like Z-Mac, Nova, and possibly others will assert themselves as options. Someone always does. You can find a starter for a few weeks if you have to. ‘In case someone gets hurt’ isn’t a good enough reason to leave one of your best arms in AAA, not if you respect the opposition in the AL East. A better argument would be ‘to back up Hughes if he fails’. That I could see as a definite possibility, Hughes career ERA as a Starter is north of 5. But the Yanks seem pretty committed to Phil and Joba in their current roles, and recent statements from Dave Eiland make me think there won’t be a mid-season stretching out again as there was in 08, fearing injury. You can never say never, but it appears Joba’s days as a starter are over. I just wish he would have been on equal footing with Hughes going into this season, I think he’s earned that.