It’s time for another dose of that medicine that I like to refer to as “Why doesn’t anybody listen to me?”  And you’re about to get a heaping spoonful.

Warning: If you’re tired of talking about Joba, you’d be best to click on your merry way.  Because, yes, I’m going to do that again.

I’ve stated often and insistently that I don’t get why we would possibly be using Joba in the starting rotation.  Of course, when Wang went on the DL, it silenced that debate – and quick.  But, with Wang back, healthy and on top of his game from what we can gather, I’m going to have to insist on revisiting the question:  Why would we possibly be using Joba in the starting rotation? And Wang in the pen.

Seriously. Just shoot me in the head with a t-shirt gun.

Tired as we all may be of hearing it – we need the reliable bridge to Mo more than we need a shaky starter who’s on limited innings. And to leave our best homegrown starter – a guy who doesn’t know from relieving — languishing in the bullpen is nothing short of lunacy.

I get that no one wants to put a potential four-pitch ace in the bullpen.  It feels sort of like putting baby in the corner. But for all the talk of how Joba is still developing, we don’t seem to be seeing much development. True, he isn’t catastrophic – all the time. But he doesn’t have the same velocity as a starter, and he’s not exactly an overwhelmingly dominating presence.  Why would we learn to live with that pitcher when we’re aware of the existence of the other one?  The one who emerged on the scene a couple years back and blew our minds with the dazzling brilliance of his fastball, the stunning practical non-existence of his ERA.

True, maybe Joba gets there as a starter.  But as my crazy French Introduction to Human Right professor was fond of saying, “Zee proof is in zee pudding, and we haven’t tasted zee pudding yet.”