Joba Chamberlain’s Job in Jeopardy?
Joba Chamberlain’s role on the New York Yankees has continued to be reduced and reduced, and soon there may be no more room to drop for the pitcher.
Chamberlain's role as the eighth-inning setup and his future with the Yankees may be in serious jeopardy. We all know the organization is not afraid to drop their weakest links, and the organization does not intend to let Chamberlain’s inconsistency cost them a division title, or a 28th World Series title.
Yankees general manager (GM) Brian Cashman is looking to bring in relievers to either complement Chamberlain or replace him. “The Bridge To Rivera” has been very unsteady all season and may fall down soon if something is not done to repair it.
Following Chamberlain’s latest setback, Yankees manager Joe Girardi claimed he would put him back out there, but Girardi didn’t seem very convincing and he reveals as little as possible to the media.
Chamberlain's latest meltdown in a game caused an outstanding seven-inning outing by Javier Vazquez to go to waste. Chamberlain allowed a grand slam, which is not good considering Girardi is looking for a consistent, smooth eighth-inning transition to Mariano Rivera.
Girardi knows it’s important to have relievers on a team who know their roles and do it well, but no one deserves an exemption, even for someone who was once regarded as having unlimited potential.
Cashman, unlike the late George Steinbrenner, has exhibited the quality of patience in regards to his young pitchers. Cashman points out that in other markets, pitchers are given more time to develop and are not as pressured to succeed so quickly as say, a market like the Bronx. Cashman is trying to change that even if fans and the media do not seem to believe him.
The 24 year-old Chamberlain was recently voted as the Most Over-Rated Player in Baseball in a Sports Illustrated poll. In 2007, his quick ascension to being a season saver for the Yankees may have doomed him. Chamberlain’s performances are always compared to that incredible summer where he seemed to strike out the world.
Expectations were ridiculously high for Chamberlain as a starter. He was expected to duplicate what he did through one-inning work into six to seven inning work, which is impossible.
Now people are just hoping for one scoreless inning, and if Chamberlain doesn’t produce more of those soon, he may be out of a job.
The Yankees were initially front runners in the Cliff Lee sweepstakes. The trade had to do a lot with Chamberlain, but the Yankees did want Lee, first and foremost, because he would have guaranteed them the most lethal post-season rotation. Now that won’t happen, so the Yankees have to look for an answer elsewhere.
The near-deal also exposed some insecurity with the Yankees. One, they may not be comfortable with A.J Burnett and two, they are probably close to sending Phil Hughes into the bullpen.
Lee is now a Texas Ranger and the Yankees have to look for the answer to their problems internally. Chamberlain has to prove that he can handle the eighth inning.
There were hopes that this would finally be Chamberlain’s year. Yankees fans were hoping that he’d finally settle in to his eighth inning role, but things haven’t looked good so far.
Now, don’t take this the wrong way, the Yankees don’t have a whole lot of problems. The team is certainly not suffering greatly right now, but no organization strives for perfection the way the New York Yankees do.
Chamberlain has now gone from being a lock-in for the setup job to the danger zone of losing his job and his Yankees future altogether. If the Bombers must bring in someone else to be "the Bridge to Rivera" then Joba Chamberlain could be lost in New York.
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