2008 Woodie Awards
Yanks Need Joba In Bullpen
MLB
Greg Bordonaro
Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: Sports
To start or not to start, that is the question.
With the New York Yankees off to a sluggish beginning to the 2008 season, the teams co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner made like his father Monday and used the press to stir up controversy and put down his general manager.
Contrary to the plan put in place by general manager Brian Cashman and manager Joe Girardi, Steinbrenner told The New York Times he wants hard-throwing superstar Joba Chamberlain to be in the starting rotation rather than in his current position as a set-up man to Mariano Rivera.
"I want him as a starter and so does everyone else, including him, and that is what we are working toward and we need him there now," Steinbrenner said. "There is no question about it, you don't have a guy with a 100-mile-per-hour fastball and keep him as a set-up guy. You just don't do that. You have to be an idiot to do that."
Much like his father George, Steinbrenner is already showing signs that his baseball smarts are questionable. While Chamberlain might be a better fit in the Yankees rotation in the future, it would be a foolish move to put him there this season.
First, Chamberlain is the one of the centerpieces of a Yankees bullpen that is weak and has no other reliable arms besides Rivera.
If Chamberlain were to go to the bullpen that would leave the main setup role in the hands of Kyle Farnsworth, Brian Bruney or LaTroy Hawkins, a recipe anyway you mix it makes for a disaster.
The Yankees would have to acquire another arm for their bullpen, which might force them to trade one of their younger players, something they worked hard not to do this past off-season when they had a chance to get Johan Santana.
Putting Chamberlain in the rotation also creates injury risks.
The demands of a starting pitcher are much greater than that of an eighth inning reliever. After pitching only 112 innings last year, asking Chamberlain to take on a full load of innings would be too much to handle.
With the New York Yankees off to a sluggish beginning to the 2008 season, the teams co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner made like his father Monday and used the press to stir up controversy and put down his general manager.
Contrary to the plan put in place by general manager Brian Cashman and manager Joe Girardi, Steinbrenner told The New York Times he wants hard-throwing superstar Joba Chamberlain to be in the starting rotation rather than in his current position as a set-up man to Mariano Rivera.
"I want him as a starter and so does everyone else, including him, and that is what we are working toward and we need him there now," Steinbrenner said. "There is no question about it, you don't have a guy with a 100-mile-per-hour fastball and keep him as a set-up guy. You just don't do that. You have to be an idiot to do that."
Much like his father George, Steinbrenner is already showing signs that his baseball smarts are questionable. While Chamberlain might be a better fit in the Yankees rotation in the future, it would be a foolish move to put him there this season.
First, Chamberlain is the one of the centerpieces of a Yankees bullpen that is weak and has no other reliable arms besides Rivera.
If Chamberlain were to go to the bullpen that would leave the main setup role in the hands of Kyle Farnsworth, Brian Bruney or LaTroy Hawkins, a recipe anyway you mix it makes for a disaster.
The Yankees would have to acquire another arm for their bullpen, which might force them to trade one of their younger players, something they worked hard not to do this past off-season when they had a chance to get Johan Santana.
Putting Chamberlain in the rotation also creates injury risks.
The demands of a starting pitcher are much greater than that of an eighth inning reliever. After pitching only 112 innings last year, asking Chamberlain to take on a full load of innings would be too much to handle.
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