Iwakuma 00740314

02/12/2008 3:23 PM ET
Joba reportedly to open year in 'pen
According to report, Chamberlain would join rotation late in '08
By Anthony DiComo / MLB.com










TAMPA, Fla. -- Yes, Joba Chamberlain will be a starting pitcher. Just maybe not quite yet.
The Yankees have recast Chamberlain as a relief pitcher to open the season, scheduling him to play in the Minors this June before returning late in the season as a starter, according to a report Tuesday in the New York Post.

Chamberlain worked out at the Yankees' Minor League complex in Tampa on Tuesday morning, but did not make himself available to the media.

According to team sources who spoke to the Post, the plan is a response to Chamberlain's prescribed innings limit, reportedly around 140. Beginning the season in the bullpen would allow Chamberlain to limit his innings, though it would also hamper his endurance as a starter. That's why he would head down to the Minors to stretch out his arm in June, before rejoining the Yankees as a member of the rotation.

That plan contradicts most of what Yankees general Brian Cashman has said about Chamberlain's situation in recent weeks.

"All I've continued to say this winter is that he's a starter, we look at him as a starter and we're going to prepare him as a starter this spring," Cashman said last week.

And if Chamberlain does indeed pitch out of the bullpen, the Yankees would need to figure out who might take his place.

Original blueprints called for Chamberlain to open the year in the rotation, alongside Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, Phil Hughes and Mike Mussina. If Chamberlain instead pitches out of the bullpen, then fellow rookie Ian Kennedy -- owner of just 19 career innings in the big leagues -- would be all but assured a rotation slot coming out of Spring Training.

That's not a problem if Kennedy succeeds right away. But if he stumbles -- or if any other starter suffers an injury over the next seven weeks -- then the Yankees might need Chamberlain in the rotation sooner rather than later.

"If our entire staff is healthy coming out of Spring Training, he could go right to the 'pen to start the season off," Cashman said last week. "If we have injuries, he'd have to start the season in the rotation. It just depends how things are going to shake out."

The Yankees also want Chamberlain in the bullpen, according to the Post, out of necessity. Right now, they don't have an obvious candidate to be closer Mariano Rivera's primary setup man -- and until they find one, Chamberlain could prove invaluable in that role.

He already proved it once, finishing with a 0.38 ERA in mainly that role last summer.

Still, without his innings limit, Chamberlain would likely be in the rotation from the start. Pitching for six months with any type of success in the rotation would almost guarantee him to exceed 140 innings, and other solutions -- most notably a six-man rotation -- defy modern baseball convention.

Chamberlain has said all offseason that he doesn't mind either role, though it's not quite up to him. Either way, the answer might not be completely clear for some time.

Anthony DiComo is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.