Gary Smith on Joba Chamberlain

Ten years later, he'd be a prime candidate for the Smith treatment. He was either gonna be the next Rivera or the next great Yankees homegrown starter. Instead, he ends his career at age 32, with seven saves and 43 starts. But as he settles into retirement, the 2017 Yankees have Chad Green dominating like 1996 Rivera and Luis Severino looking like he'll be 10x better than Pettitte (Tuesday night excepted). There's something interesting there about Joba flaming out and Yankees learning from their mistakes.

 

I don't think Joba flamed out. I think he turned out to be a dime-a-dozen guy. There's a million relievers who come in guns a-blazin and get exposed the more they pitch. The Indians had one around the same time Joba came into the league. Fernando Cabrera gave the Indians 30 great innings in 2005, posting a 1.47 ERA. In 2006, he gave up six runs on Opening Day and never got much better. He bounced around until 2010, never with any success.

Joba was turned into a starter his second year. The league quickly figured him out. He became a fungible reliever afterwards.

We'll see him make an aborted comeback in five years.

 

I would argue flaming out is pretty much a synonym for being figured out. He was great and then he wasn't. A quickly burning out star. He didn't have the stuff or the smarts to adapt.

But the Yankees definitely learned from his flameout. At the least, they figured out to how to temper expectations for guys and to treat them with patience. Severino & Judge weren't even assured of making the team this year. Contrast that to the Mets. who just keep making the same stupid mistakes over and over and over again.