No Stuff Is No Stuff

Andy Pettite said it best, I think. When asked about Joba Chamberlain and his thoughts regarding Joba's start tonight, Andy said "...But stuff is stuff, and he's got great stuff. So he should be successful." Now turn that around for a second and you get "no stuff is no stuff and he's got bad stuff. So he should fall on his face."

All of which brings me around to the case of the Yankees Kyle Farnsworth . He is a perfect example of a pitcher with no stuff. Farnsworth is fast. He's been as fast for the Yankees as he was for Atlanta, Detroit and the Cubs before that. He's got a career ERA of 4.47 with a 1.40 WHIP, certainly nothing to write home about. The only things that come home are opposing batters, who seem to do it with alarming regularity, and very frequently at the worst possible moments.

Farnsworth's career won-loss record may characterize his career a little better. He's 28-47. While a won-loss record for a reliever is usually not indicative of a reliever's performance, in Farnsworth's case, I think it is. He has 26 career saves in 11 seasons. He's surrendered 105 home runs in 701 career innings. It seems to me I've seen at least half of them.

Farnsworth throws hard. When in trouble, he tries to throw even harder. His temperament's not really suited to that of a reliever either. He can't seem to maintain an even enough temperament to simply answer a question. When asked about Chamberlain and possible added pressure, he snapped "It hasn't done anything to me like that."

All this comes to mind as Joba prepares for his first major league start. It bothers me that the man is being held accountable for relinquishing his 8th-inning assignment to pitchers such as Farnsworth. How long will it take the Yankees to realize what any baseball fan could have told them a long time ago? Farnsworth is not a closer, he's not a holder, at best he's a guy to throw in there with an eight or nine run lead.

It's not as if there's nobody else. Without going into specifics, there's Hawkins who's been in similar roles and well, I just can't imagine anyone else being a worse choice. Why does it take so long for the Yankees to realize it?

Slow to change....the Yankees certainly aren't the only team in New York about which the same thing could be said. The Mets have a similar problem but one with entirely different characteristics. They have an eighth-inning guy they'll only use once in a while. His name is Duaner Sanchez. But the Mets choose to keep throwing Aaron Heilman in there.

Heilman's career numbers as a reliever aren't bad, especially if one chooses to ignore the fact that it was Heilman who lost that 7th game in 2006 to the Cardinals. But a 4.21 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP compare favorably with Farnsworth's career numbers. For example, Heilman's given up only 41 home runs in 404 innings pitched, about a 1 in 10 compared to Farnsworth's 1 in 7.

But Heilman's numbers this year are horrible. His ERA is 6.37 with a WHIP of 1.58. Without a big story, the Mets have lost 16 of the 26 games in which Heilman has appeared. Heilman is 0-2 with just two blown saves but also has only 5 "holds" in those same 26 appearances. And, while he may not have blown the rest of his opportunities, he has sure come close to it.

Slow to change...Willie Randolph is probably the best example of this in the entire league. Even more so than Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi because Willie exhibits that same ridiculous persistence with Delgado and Castillo, and seemingly any and every veteran player on the roster.

That persistence, some would say stubbornness (I certainly would), is the reason the Mets are looking up at the rest of the division. Is it surprising to anyone that Delgado and Castillo began to turn things around after riding the pine for a little while? Or that Heilman did enjoy a couple of good outings after being taken out of the relieving rotation for a spell?

Supposedly, Heilman’s problem is one of location. And, while that is undoubtedly partly true, I doubt that a pitch of Joba’s, in precisely the same location, would travel quite as far into the stands. Because the pitch would have either arrived in that spot a lot sooner, or would have dived into that spot, or backed up into that spot.

You get the picture. Joba has stuff. He doesn’t always have to hit the perfect spot. The only things that Joba has not been able to overcome have been Cleveland bugs, about 20 million of them, most of which seemed to favor Joba’s face for “location.”

Yes, stuff is stuff and vice-versa. Some have it and some don’t. And, especially with relievers, there is one other crucial ingredient required to be truly successful. And that is confidence or temperament.

Joe Borowski is usually named as the quintessential example of a reliever who, inexplicably, gets batters out in the ninth inning with amazing frequency, and yet has no stuff. What Borowski does have, beyond shoulder problems this year, is guile and moxie, and maybe the confidence of having been there, done that.

But, when Borowski experienced trouble this year, Cleveland got him on the disabled list where he belonged. And, their closer by committee approach, while not 100%, worked better than would have a Borowski with just one good wing.

Slow to change…we see way too much of that in New York. That’s why we are seeing such consternation that Joba will be changing roles. He was great in that eighth inning role. Why change?

A legitimate starter is harder to find than an eighth-inning guy. The Yanks just need to find one. His name isn’t Farnsworth. But there are probably hundreds of them. The Joba’s can be counted on one hand.