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  Follow us as each week as our best writers from around the Bloguin Network take aim at each other and square off on anything and everything baseball from "who was better, Mays or Mantle" to "Should MLB have a salary cap?"
Pick a side and agree or disagree. Take part in the debate by posting a comment giving your own opinion. There are no holds barred and nothing is held back in the "The Great Bloguin Baseball Debate."
Today's Debaters are:
Tyler Hissey, Around The Majors
Blythe Brumleve, GuysGirl.com
Today's Topic is: Who should be the Yankees 5th starter, Chamberlain or Hughes?
 Phil Hughes should be the Yankees 5th starter
By Tyler Hissey, Around The Majors: In addition to Around The Majors, Tyler is a contributor to Dugout Central and hosts an MLBpodcast, Around The Majors,on BlogTalkRadio. He recently became the co-host of Minor League Notebook Weekly and is a contributor to the Fantasy Baseball Roundtable Show as well. From 2007-February 2009, he covered Major League Baseball, focusing on the Tampa Bay Rays, for Scout.com. His work there was frequently syndicated on FoxSports.com. In the summer of 2009, Hissey competed in the first-ever Baseball Prospectus Idol competition, finishing seventh overall. You can follow Tyler on Twitter (atmajors).
The final spot in the New York Yankees' starting rotation should go to right-hander Phil Hughes. In all honesty, though, both Chamberlain and Hughes should be given numerous opportunities to fail in a starting role before being shifted to the bullpen permanently. Even an average starting pitcher, of course, is considerably more valuable than a dominant relief pitcher. Thus, in terms of pure value, each hurler could make a much higher impact taking the ball every fifth day; indeed, despite the well-documented relief success, Hughes was still less valuable than Chamberlain based on Wins Above Replacement last season. New York is also relying on several veterans in its front five, and the day will come where the club will need to rely more on cheap, young arms.
Given the Yankees' deep front four at the moment, though, one of the youngsters is definitely headed to the bullpen. I think it should be Chamberlain, who is still extremely talented but has yet to live up to unrealistic expectations. I still feel that he can be a successful starter one day, but, for now, Hughes should be the one given the chance at the five spot. The 24-year-old hurler struggled on the surface when given the chance to start in 2009, going 3-2 with a 5.45 ERA and five home runs allowed in seven starts. Despite the poor record, though, he still flashed impressive stuff and missed bats at a decent rate, striking out 31 in 34.2 innings pitched in that role. As well, small sample size issues apply.
What happened next turned out to be a blessing for New York. Hughes, moved to the pen to make way for the return of Chien-Ming Wang, flourished in the eighth-inning as the Yankees' primary setup man. He struck out 65 against only 13 walks in 51.1 innings pitched while posting a 1.40 ERA. As is the case with most pitchers, his stuff played in up in short bursts, especially in regards to velocity. Including his time as a starter, he averaged 93.7 MPH on his fastball while mixing in a high-80s cutter, high-70s curve ball an occasional change-up. The velocity (and his 10.05 K/9 rate) will come back down, of course, when he has to preserve his bullets over the course of a start, but his stuff should still work well in a starting role.
Regardless of what happens out of the gate, Hughes' future is as a starter. As such, the Yankees will be conservative with him, limiting his innings pitched and pitch counts. However, it would be a mistake to enforce and rules similar to what the organization did with Chamberlain, who was mishandled. If he makes 25-plus starts, expect an ERA in the high-3.00s with solid peripherals. The concern is command, but, if he can keep his walk rate at a reasonable level, he could really be a nice surprise for a team that will win a lot of games.
As far as Chamberlain goes, I just hope the Yankees did not permanently damage a tremendous young pitching asset. While he certainly failed to live up the hype in his first full year as a starter, he is still only 24 and has a bright future. After getting off to a productive start over the season's first two months, he had some really rough outings along the way and finished '09 with a disappointing 4.75 ERA and 4.82 Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP). By all accounts, it was a poor performance, as his peripherals and average fastball velocity all dropped considerably from the previous season. Like I mentioned with Hughes, though, it should not be surprising that a pitcher's velocity drops upon moving to the starting rotation but scouts did not expect such a significant decrease.
Chamberlain has not helped matters by getting roughed up in his first few appearances this spring. However, spring training stats are essentially meaningless, and what matters more is the process that leads to those stats. According to some reports, talent evaluators are encouraged by his velocity to this point, so I would not read too much into the outcry from the New York metro papers. Chamberlain will still probably break camp as a reliever, but, over 162 games, there is no doubt that the Yankees will need a starter to fill in at some point and he should be the first guy to get the call when that occurs.
Also worth mentioning are the two other candidates for the job: Chad Gaudin and Sergio Mitre. Gaudin, who has an excellent slider, is coming off a decent campaign combined between the San Diego Padres and Yankees. Overall, he produced a solid 8.49 K.9 rate but again had major command issues (4.64 BB/9) and managed just a 4.64 ERA and 4.16 FIP. Plus, a permanent move to the superior American League and into a hitter-friendly park will not do him any favors and his 68.9% strand rate will regress considerably. At 27, he is just insurance and potential trade bait. Mitre, meanwhile, leaves a lot to be desired I terms of stuff and to-date production. Perhaps being another year removed from undergoing Tommy John surgery will help, but he is nothing special and lacks the potential upside New York could get out its fifth spot from Chamberlain or Hughes.
Hughes should be the guy who gets the nod, based on durability and talent. Counting on him to replicate his excellent numbers as a reliever is a trap, but he still could make an excellent number five in 2010 and is a safer bet to do so than Chamberlain. - Tyler Hissey, Around The Majors
 Joba Chamberlain should be the Yankees 5th starter
By Blythe Brumleve, GuysGirl.com: Blythe Brumleve is the lead writer and founder of GuysGirl.com, a site that brings sports and gaming into a girl's life. To read all her work visit GuysGirl.com and to see all of the interesting stuff she tweets, follow her on Twitter @GuysGirl.Joba
Second guessing in sports is nothing new. Every major decision an organization is immediately followed with assumptions, predictions and second hand comments from reporters and bloggers that follow any given team.
But second guessing also seems to be the norm around Yankee camps, especially when it involves two trophy boys in Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes. The decision of whether to give these boys a chance to start could make or break the pitching future for the Yankees.
But if the reigning World Series champions want to keep their pitching future bright, they will start Joba Chamberlain over Phil Hughes.
Take the Kid Gloves Off Already
When Joba Chamberlain first came into the league in 2007, he was treated very delicately because Yankees management did not want another Francisco Loriano situation to happen in which a young star is over worked and his arm blown out.
Thus baseball fans were introduced to the "Joba Rules". These guidelines specified that Chamberlain would only come into a game to start an inning, and that he must get a day of rest for each inning pitched, both prior to and following the game in which he pitched.
The Yankees knew they were planning for the future in starting Joba off in the bullpen of 07. Joba's stint in the bullpen should have started in ended in 2007 but we all know, the team has since gone back on their decision a few times.
How is a young pitcher supposed to confirm to consistency if his role is changed sometimes twice a year? Shouldn't he be given a fair chance to earn the role instead of being bounced around and handled so delicately?
Most cynics would point to Joba's "chance at being a starter" in 2009 in which he never lived up to the 07' hype but it could have also been due to the fact that the Yankees limited his innings, skipped his scheduled starts and shortened up the outings when he actually did start.
To those critiques, I would point to the May 5th game in which Joba started against the Red Sox. He gave up 4 runs to the Sox in one inning and I along with every other Red Sox fan was laughing at the thought of "Wow the Yankees really screwed this kid up, what a waste of raw talent". Joba could have given up and pitched mediocre until Giaradi pulled him but instead he came firing back and struck out the next 12 out of 14.
Bullpen pitchers DO NOT strike out 12 out of 14 guys, starting pitchers do that
The reason Joba is even being questioned as a starter as nothing to do with his talent, but his drive. Part of being a young pitcher is learning how to out think the batter, not over power him. Too often, Joba was doing the latter and it didn't work.
Which is why the Yankees seem to be challenging him this season with the rumors that Hughes or another younger pitcher would start over him. The Yankees pitching coach Eiland, has been very blunt on the flaws of Joba and it wouldn't be surprising if they want to light a fire under him to keep him "fighting for his starting job" all year long. There is not greater drive than the threat of competition.
Everyone knows Joba's main competition is in that of another young pitching phenom Phil Hughes. While just as talented and important to the organization, Hughes only has 2 pitches at best. Hughes has incredible command to compliment his fastball and curve, but having 2 pitches is not ideal for a starter. Hughes still has a ways to go in terms of being a starter.
Joba has 4 pitches in a stellar fast ball, curve, slider and changeup. If you are a pitcher in Major League Baseball and you have command of FOUR pitches, you start. End of story.
With that said, the Yankees have a "problem" most teams would die for. if Joba is named a starter, he deserves to get the respect that he will remain the starter until his on the field performance says otherwise. In 2010 he will not have the lingering questions in the back of his head of "how many pitches do I have so far?" or "I only have 2 more innings until they are going to pull me".
Joba will be able to perform in 2010 with a chip on his shoulder and to prove to the critiques that he can and should be the Yankees 5th starter. - Blythe Brumleve, GuysGirl.com
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