Saturday, February 7, 2009
Joba Chamberlain preparing for role in Yankees’ starting rotation
TAMPA - Joba Chamberlain still lives The Great Joba Debate, nearly every day. Friends or fans approach him with an opinion on his role. Some tell him, “You should be in the bullpen.” Others say, “You should start.”
“Someone,” Chamberlain said, “is always going to have a debate on it.”
Except, at least for now, the Yankees. Back in November, Chamberlain was in New York for a charity banquet and spoke to Brian Cashman. The GM told the phenom to spend the winter preparing to be in the Yankees’ starting rotation.
“Physically, you’re not going to do anything differently, but the game is so hard mentally, so to know that I’d prepare only as a starter was a little calming to me,” Chamberlain said Friday after throwing a bullpen session at the Yanks’ minor-league complex. “You just prepare like you’re going to get 30 starts and pitch 200 innings, so that’s the mind-set you get and I got into it early.
“I was excited that they wanted me in a starting role.”
So are we.
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