CENTER FIELD :: Rehashing Buchholz vs. Chamberlain

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Rehashing Buchholz vs. Chamberlain

ESPN got Jerry Crasnick to dig up that old chestnut, the question that approximately 1,000 people have already hashed and re-hashed before: would you rather have Clay Buchholz or Joba Chamberlain? Crasnick's choice?

We talked to nine non-Red Sox or Yankees personnel people, and the verdict was decidedly pro-Joba. While most baseball talent evaluators predict stardom for both pitchers, seven of the nine preferred Chamberlain. So we'll go with the Yankees guy as well. Let the debate (and the angry e-mails from Red Sox fans) commence.

So if we're going to rehash, we might as well go all the way. Letting go of everyone's obvious bias in favor of Clay, take a read through that article and let me know what you think. Honestly- sentiment and emotion aside- who would you rather have THIS YEAR in your starting rotation? Would your answer change if I the question was who would you rather have pitching out of the bullpen?

Now if this was a question of who could stuff more marshmallows into their gaping maw, I think we know who would win that contest... hands down.

One other interesting bit from the article:

Buchholz is a fantastic athlete. He's quick off the mound, he' has a good move to first base and he can field his position. And as the story goes, he ran the fastest 60-yard dash on the Lowell Spinners roster in 2005. Apparently his teammate Jacoby Ellsbury didn't run that day because of a balky hamstring. But some Red Sox people think it would be a heck of a race.

I think the powers that be need to make sure a footrace between Buchholz and Ellsbury happens - Spring Training would be a perfect opportunity.

Comments (4)

[ sittingstill ] says:
on January 19, 2008 6:57 AM

I honestly think Chamberlain has something of Papelbon's makeup in him, and so the two questions for me are relatively easy. I'd definitely prefer Clay as a starter. I'm not convinced Joba has enough besides his fastball to get by as a starter; I think this may be true of Papelbon as well. I'm delighted that the Yankees have talked about using Joba as a starter, as a result!

On the other hand, everything I've seen from Clay, everything he's said and several statements from his coaches lead me to believe he's poorly suited to the bullpen. If he's rough, it's often in the first. Small sample size, of course, but in the All-Star Futures game he gave up a HR in his one relief inning. When he pitched in relief for the Sox they gave him more than an inning to warm, and the first inning of that outing was an adventure. I think his value is diminished if he doesn't start.

As far as the footrace--Clay said in an interview with Joe Castiglione in September that he's been explicitly forbidden from testing this, so don't get your hopes up! ^_~

[ Liza ] says:
on January 19, 2008 8:37 AM

Aww. Too bad about the footrace--that would be awesome.

But I agree with Kelly--Joba wouldn't make as good of a starter as Clay. Out of who's the better pitcher, inning-by-inning, I'd probably say Chamberlain, but he hasn't been able to go more than two innings against major leaguers yet. Clay went against nine innings at a time in his second start and did pretty darn well that day, I'd say...

[ Piney61 ] says:
on January 19, 2008 11:59 AM

You think if they did the footrace of Clay vs Jacoby for charity, it could have some legs(pun not intended) because this seriously needs to happen. It could be like Footrace Friday with Youk vs Pedroia, Mirabelli vs Schilling(because the two bicker like an old married couple anyway), Jacoby vs Clay, Wakefield vs Ortiz(for funniest running motion in the history of ever), hell even throw in Announcer Boy vs Remy or something or a dance off between Papelbon and Youkilis. This could be an awesome charity event! That being said, I understand the sentiment of why. Nobody wants to hurt themselves.

That being said, I don't think it's entirely fair to have to choose between Joba and Clay, mostly because I think they're grooming Joba(despite the rumblings of the rotation for him) to be more of the heir to the throne of Rivera. If I had to go for the bullpen, I'd definitely pick Joba because Clay doesn't seem to be a good bullpen guy. He'd make a great starter, however. I'd probably go with Clay but this is a biased opinion.

Also, I'm sure someone must've said it before and I heard it somewhere else before, but Joba looks like a humanized for of King Hippo from Mike Tyson's punchout

[ Meg ] says:
on January 19, 2008 3:15 PM

Maybe he can pinch run?:-P

I think (keeping in mind that I'm biased) that I would rather have Clay in the starting rotation. I like his overall stuff better (though Joba's fastball is definitely superior to Clay's), and the kid seems to be unflappable. Joba strikes me as someone who could possibly be derailed after a poor early inning, but I really don't know since I've never seen him start, and most of his outings last year were one inning (and he kicked-ass in pretty much all of them).

If they do both end up in the rotation, I really hope we get a Buchholz/Chamberlain game at some point.

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