Will Mo be as brilliant without Joba?

I know many pundits– including our esteemed editor-in-chief– believe that Joba Chamberlain’s rightful place is in the rotation. However, there’s something I have not read or heard anyone talking about yet, and that’s the effect Joba’s transition is going to have on Mo. Mo is enjoying one of the best seasons of his Hall-of-Fame career, and it is no coincidence that it has occurred with Joba dominating the 8th inning in front of him. Think about how many times during the Torre era (especially the last three/four years) Mo has had to come on in the 8th to record a 6, 5, or 4-out save? Thanks to Joba, that hasn’t happened yet. So my thing is this– by moving Joba to the bullpen, the Yanks are not only weakening their middle relief, but they are also weakening the closer position. And as LaTroy Hawkins demonstrated the other night, the Yankees just do not have another shut-down-type to bridge the gap to Mo. The Yankees spent $22 million on Steve Karsay to secure the 8th inning and he was not up to the task. Then they gave Kyle Farnsworth $17 million to be that guy, and so far he has failed (miserably). In total, they have spent $39 million this decade trying to find the next Jeff Nelson. And now that they finally found that dude (and only needed to spend a draft pick to do it), they went ahead and blew it up.

When the Yankees were winning the World Series every year, they did not have a Josh Beckett pitching Game 1, but they had pitchers like Andy Pettitte, El Duque, David Wells, David Cone, Jimmy Key, etc. pitching games 2, 3, 4, and 5, and those guys were way better than anyone the opposition threw in those games. The Yankees won because they always had a deep rotation, not an ace in the hole. So the Yankees may or may not have the next Josh Beckett, but in finding out if they do, they have also jeopardized the 9th inning by potentially over-using Mo to plug the gaping 8th-inning hole in their bullpen.