So it’s our second player versus player challenge and after your overwhelmingly positive response to our last poll, we thought we would stick with the baseball theme but move to the mound this time with two guys who are up and coming baseball stars. If you haven’t heard of Joba Chamberlain you have been living under a rock I assume, but due to Josh’s extensive baseball knowledge he has decided to challenge me with Max Scherzer a pitcher you may or may not be familiar with.

Again we leave it to you to decide who you would rather build your fantasy pitching staff around. Remember we are taking into consideration draft order, player value and future potential for those of you in keeper leagues.

So vote away and also offer us your comments, we’d like nothing more than to get a dialog going with you.

So here you go…Player versus Player #2 - Joba Chamerlain versus Max Scherzer - Vote here or below the post.

Joba Chamberlain
New York Yankees
Position: P Height: 6-2 Weight: 230 Born: 9/23/85 Bats: Right Throws: Right

Background
Joba served as a ball boy for Lincoln Northeast High School’s state championship basketball team, and eventually graduated from Northeast. He did not jump straight to college; to help pay the bills, Joba briefly worked for the city of Lincoln’s maintenance department.

Chamberlain’s father was born on a reservation for the Winnebago American Indian Tribe, but had to leave to be treated for polio. Harlan spent his childhood in hospitals and foster homes and now uses a motor scooter to get around. Now retired from the state penitentiary, he works as a substitute teacher and takes tickets at Cornhuskers’ games. Chamberlain still has family living on American Indian reservations.

Joba’s niece was unable to pronounce the name Justin correctly, pronouncing it as Joba instead and he grew to prefer this name. He eventually had his name legally changed to Joba.

Before The Majors
Chamberlain played for the University of Nebraska-Kearney Lopers, leading the team in ERA (2.23), opponents batting average (.250), strikeouts (49), and complete games (4), before transferring to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He helped the Cornhuskers reach the 2005 College World Series and helped Nebraska with the team’s first-ever College World Series win, going 10-2 with a 2.81 ERA for the year; his 2005 stats included 5 double-digit strikeout games. Triceps tendinitis limited his 2006 season but he still pitched in 14 games, posting a 6-5 record, a 3.93 ERA and 102 strikeouts in 89.1 innings.

Chamberlain was drafted 41st overall by the New York Yankees in the 2006 Major League Baseball Draft; the Yankees received that draft pick as free agent compensation for Tom Gordon, who signed with the Philadelphia Phillies. Chamberlain did not pitch in the organized minors during the 2006 season, but dominated the winter league in Hawaii, posting a 2.63 ERA for the West Oahu Cane Fires.

Before the 2007 season, Baseball America ranked Chamberlain as the 4th-best prospect in the pitching-rich Yankee organization, and the 75th-best prospect in Major League Baseball, and ranked his fastball as the best in the Yankee farm system.

Career Highlights
On August 7, 2007, the Yankees purchased Chamberlain’s contract, elevating him to the major leagues for the first time in his career. Chamberlain struck out the first batter he faced and went on to pitch two scoreless innings, striking out two. The television and stadium radar guns clocked his fastest pitch at 100 and 99 miles per hour, respectively, with his slider consistently registering at 87.

Joba wears the number 62 in honor of his best friend and childhood teammate who wore the number 8 and died from brain cancer. Throughout his career, he has always worn a number in which the digits added up to eight.

When Chamberlain takes the mound, he begins with a private prayer ritual which he began doing in Little League. The Yankee Stadium scoreboard staff plays Mötley Crüe’s “Shout at the Devil” whenever Chamberlain enters a game.

On October 14, Hank Steinbrenner announced that Joba Chamberlain would begin 2008 Spring Training as a starting pitcher but will limit his innings.

Even as late as March, it was uncertain what Joba’s role would be in 2008. He started the year off in the bullpen with no promise of a transition to a starting position in the second half of the season. General Manager Brian Cashman and others have discussed a definite plan and have stressed that Chamberlain’s role may change in the course of the upcoming 2008 season. However, recent statements by Cashman, is “He’s a back-end guy. That’s how I’m going to classify him” have led speculation to be that there is tension between Cashman’s point of view and that of Hank Steinbrenner. On April 20, Hank Steinbrenner, the acting boss of the New York Yankees announced that he wanted Joba to be moved into the rotation.

Just days ago on May 21, 2008, Chamberlain threw two scoreless innings and 35 pitches in an 8-0 victory against the Orioles. After the game Manager Joe Giradi announced that this was the beginning of a process to transition Chamberlain into the Yankee’s starting rotation, and that he will be a member of the starting rotation at some point during the 2008 season.

Joba Chamberlain Links - Chamberlain Is Ready To Start; Wikipedia; Current ESPN Profile

Max Scherzer
Arizona Diamondbacks
Position: P Height: 6-3 Weight: 215 Born: 9/23/85 Bats: Right Throws: Right

A lot of people get by on creeds or aphorisms that pilot them through life: “Use it or lose it,” “A man without land is nothing,” “Tomorrow’s another day.” Mine’s always been a little different: “Always buy pitchers with two-seam fastballs,” “Never draft a rookie starter or Daniel Cabrera,” and “Only draft NL starters.” (I’m thinking about adding a new one: “Only draft guys without Facebook accounts.”) With very few exceptions that last one’s proven to be true. Horacio Ramirez gave me pause, but a switch to the AL redeemed me. Ramirez’s ERA his final, 86-mph season in Atlanta: 4.48. His ERA his first, 86-mph season in Seattle: 7.16. But that’s another article.

Right now I’m supposed to be taking a look at Max Scherzer, one of a handful of starters in the NL with a 95 mph+ plus fastball. I don’t believe that Randy Johnson throws that hard anymore. They’re juicing the guns for him. (A couple years ago I was watching a Marlins game; Scott Olsen was pitching to David Wright, and the radar reading popped up at 97. “Wow!” I thought. “I didn’t know Scott could throw that hard.” The next pitch: 107. It was a bad gun.)

For the purposes of this Joba-Max comparison, it’s interesting to note that the two guys are reversing roles: Chamberlain’s entering the rotation just as Scherzer’s going to the bullpen. So we’ve got to consider the value inherent in two fixed roles: 1: Starter for the Yankees; 2: Sixth- or seventh-inning guy for the Diamondbacks. I can’t win that one; Joba’s clearly got the more valuable slot. But long-term value? Well, that’s another story.

Background

In 2003 Max Scherzer was taken 1291st overall by the St. Louis Cardinals. That’s the forty-third round. But, in all fairness, he was eighteen. He didn’t sign; he went to college; and three years later he was the eleventh overall pick in the first round of the MLB entry draft. Presumably he gained some weight, added some mph to his fastball. It’s really not unusual to see teams reach on hard-throwing starters.

At 6’3”, 190, Scherzer is another lithe young starter. I don’t know why young pitchers are so slim, but they all tend to look the same. (And they all tend to throw the same two pitches: fastball, slider. Changeups are rare, and curves like Danks’s and Bedard’s are, evidently, tough pitches to learn. But a slider’s an out pitch to lefties and righties, and a bad changeup is the worst pitch an RHP can throw. It’s just a little worse than a bad curve.) Cole Hamels, for example, is 6’3”, 190. Jonathan Sanchez is 6’2”, 185. Scott Kazmir finally put on some weight; now he’s at 190. Cliff Lee: 6’3”, 190. It’s just odd that these guys are all the same height and weight. I guess there’s some MLB scouting metric we’ve never heard about.

Scherzer’s out of Parkway Central High School in Chesterfield, Missouri. His senior year at Parkway saw Scherzer go 11-2 with a 2.38 ERA. He struck out 72, walked 15, and tossed three complete games. Another interesting stat: 3.9—Scherzer’s GPA. He was a four-year Honor Roll student, and a member of the National Honor Society.

Career Highlights

Scherzer’s only at the beginning of what should/could be a long MLB career. I’d say his career highlight thus far has to be hitting 98 mph in a relief appearance on May 23rd. His 24:7 K:BB in 20 is also okay for a young pitcher. Not great, but okay. And his .219 OBA is very nice. And he’s yet to allow a home run.

Before The Majors

Max spent three years at The University of Missouri. He won sixteen games, struck out 232 in 206 innings, and walked eighty. He started two games in ’04, sixteen in ’05, and thirteen in ’06. His ERA and WHIP by season: 1.86/0.94 in ’05, 2.25/1.00 in ’06. Pitching in an aluminum-bat league, Scherzer’s HR rate peaked at 0.34/9 IP. Pretty damn good.

He spent ’07 working his way through the minors, starting at A+ Visalia, and working his way to AAA Fort Worth. He spent twenty-three innings with Tucson in the PCL to open ’08, and was called up to Arizona on April 29.

His numbers through the minors:
A+: 17 IP, 0.53 ERA, 0.41 WHIP, 30:2 K:BB, 5 hits allowed.
AA: 73.2 IP, 3.91 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 76:40 K:BB, 64 hits allowed.
AAA (’07) : 16 IP, 0.56 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, 25:4 K:BB, 9 hits allowed.
AAA (’08) : 23 IP, 1.17 ERA, 0.65 WHIP, 38:3 K:BB, 12 hits allowed.

Going a little deeper: His career minor league BB/9: 3.41; his career HR/9: 0.28.

Analysis

Right now Max is manning a worthless role in the Diamondbacks’s bullpen. Tony Pena is good enough to close, but he’s working the eighth; Juan Cruz has found himself as a bridge man; Chad Qualls is slowing down, but he’s a quality late-inning reliever. So what’s Scherzer? The situational lefty/set-up man when Pena’s thrown three days in a row? I guess so. Bob Melvin has said that he wants Max to take on a significant role. Does that mean pitching to Griffey? With only one appearance in the past eight days, it’s tough to tell.

Doug Davis is back in the rotation, though who knows how long that’ll last. The guy has (thyroid) cancer. It’s terrific that he can go out there, but I find it hard to believe that he’d be blocking Scherzer if the fuse weren’t lit on this PR nightmare. Davis’s 1.59 WHIP in ’07 was good enough to be the long man in the ‘pen. He’s averaged ninety-eight walks over the past two seasons. He’s a fifth starter. Period. And he sure as hell shouldn’t be handling Scherzer’s job.

This is like a Hoffman-Bell situation: When does the older, less-effective pitcher step aside for the younger, harder-throwing pitcher? Soon. Very, very soon. Though Joba’s just a step away from the rotation, Scherzer’s not more than a couple months away from starting.

Webb, Haren, Owings, Johnson, Davis. That’s the Diamondbacks’s rotation. Davis is, as I said, just a marginal fifth guy at this point; Johnson is always a start away from the DL. Randy threw fifty-six innings last year; right now he’s at forty-four. So maybe that’s why Scherzer’s not throwing relief: they want to keep him stretched out. I don’t believe they really want him relieving. Really, why would they?

Scherzer’s big win over Chamberlain is his league—and, more specifically, his division. The Yankees are last in the AL East. That’s a helluva competitive division. Last in the NL West? The Padres. Second-last: The Giants. Two of the three lowest-scoring teams in Major League Baseball are in the Diamondbacks’s division; the second highest-scoring team in Major League Baseball is in the AL East. And the Jays and Devil Rays are coming. And stats vs. RHP? In ‘08 San Diego’s hitting .247 against righties; Colorado: .259; San Francisco: .256.

Tampa Bay vs. RHP: .271. Toronto: .267. Boston: .281.

There’s no question that Joba’ll be great, but I’ll take a hard-throwing RHP in the NL West every single time. Just look at Arizona’s divisional won-loss record: 20-5. They’re killing those “teams.” The Yankees’s divisional won-loss record: 12-12. Clearly, there’s a huge gap between leagues. And that’s what Joba’s stepping into. Right now the NL West’s on pace to produce three 100-loss teams. And you’ve got a chance to own a pitcher in the division? Buy, buy, buy.

Max Scherzer Links

Max Scherzer’s Mizzou Player Card
Max Scherzer Youtube Clips
Max Scherzer MLB.COM Player Card

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