Are A Couple Yankee Pitchers Pitching Injured? (Game Notes 10 and 11 July 2009)

Brian Bruney and Joba Chamberlain have been, well, awful of late.

So, here's the question: Do you think they are injured?

Brian Bruney's spent most of this season on the DL. He has looked awful since coming off of it, and tonight's performance is no different. There's a 1:2 K/BB ratio, and when he does throw strikes they're getting hit hard.

That Bruney, a power pitcher, has already been on the DL twice this season with arm problems, and if that's not a giant red flag, I'm not sure what is.

If he's right, he's a crucial piece of the Yankee bullpen, but if he's not, the Yankees might panic and overpay for Huston Street, et al.



Joba Chamberlain fell to the Yankees in the draft because of injury concerns.

He ended up on the DL last summer with a rotator cuff/labrum injury, and while he has a couple of decent starts this season, his mediocre ones far outnumber them.

It's hard to imagine that Chamberlain is suddenly afraid of the strike zone, but the nibbling and inefficiency need to be addressed. The last thing the Yankees want to do is have to find two other starters instead of one, but that may be their only option if Chamberlain can't pick it up.

We have seen Chamberlain's flashes of brilliance, and we know that young pitchers can struggle. The mediocre Joba is not the Joba that will have a lengthy major league career.

What we do know, however, is that the Yankees have to figure out what's causing the problem. It's hard to imagine that they haven't at least considered the possibility that the shoulder isn't right, and remaining mum on it would seem to be the correct PR move. As long as Chamberlain keeps taking the ball every five games, however, one must assume the Yankees think he's healthy.

Right now, I wouldn't be so sure.



*****

The inability to beat the Angels in Anaheim, is what, a decades-old thing now?

It's gotten old. Way old.