Don’t Make Joba 2.0: The Yankees Prospect Debate Is Back

Evan & Tiki

Audacy

Sports

4.2 • 988 Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2026

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A classic New York baseball argument comes roaring back as the crew revisits the Joba Chamberlain debate and applies it to a new Yankees pitching prospect. The big question is simple but loaded: if a young arm can dominate in relief right away, do you chase the short-term payoff, or protect his future as a starter where the upside may be far greater? The conversation dives into how Joba’s electric bullpen run shaped fan thinking, why dominant relief can cloud long-term development, and whether the Yankees should resist that temptation this time around. Along the way, they weigh starter value versus bullpen impact, touch on spring training impressions, and veer into a lively World Baseball Classic tangent that adds even more baseball flavor to the episode.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I don't think it's been addressed yet here at WFAN. I think it will be. Today is just the day I wanted to bring it up to you. I wanted to get ahead of it. I wanted to get shot on the record, Tiki on the record, long before this debate hits WFAN because it reminds me of another debate that's hit WFAN. In fact, if you said, Evan, can you name to me over the time you've been here?
0:22.0	I've been here since 2007 full time.
0:24.4	What were like the 15 biggest endless debates at WFAN?
0:29.2	And up there, maybe not at the top, but up there was, and maybe Sean could describe this to you,
0:35.5	because I'm not sure how involved you were with Yankee baseball at this point
0:38.4	do you remember the Java
0:41.4	debate
0:42.5	the Java endings the Java rules
0:44.5	the Java is he a starting pitcher
0:47.3	reliever is he a reliever
0:49.4	Java rules
0:51.3	everything about Jabba Chamberlain
0:53.1	if Mariano didn't exist he would have been a relieva forever.
0:55.6	Well, and that's the point.
0:57.4	So for those that don't remember, maybe you're too young.
0:59.6	I vaguely remember that.
1:01.1	Jabba Chamberlain was a huge pitching prospect.
1:04.2	The Yankees called him up in the summer of 2007 and used him out of the bullpen where he was,
1:10.3	not just electric, he was historic.
1:13.0	If I'm not mistaken, and you can look it up, his ERA in 2007 was something like 0.35.
1:20.1	Absurd.
1:21.1	It was like a video game.
	...

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