So What to Do About Joba Chamberlain?

There's been a whole to-do this week about the Yankees and weight. First, CC Sabathia said he lost 25 pounds after he dropped his habit of devouring full boxes of Cap'n Crunch cereal (hey, maybe that's what the CC stands for in his name!) Now Joba Chamberlain admits to packing on a few pounds, but claims it's all muscle. Right.

I'm of two minds about Joba. On the one hand, I think the Yankees did him a tremendous disservice with moving him from the bullpen to the starting rotation and back. And I think it was ridiculous for Brian Cashman to characterize anybody who disagreed with the Yankees' strategy as "stupid."

However, there's also some real questions, I think, about Chamberlain's work ethic. And showing up to spring training packing on a few extra pounds doesn't help. If you're working in a cubicle farm, it doesn't matter how much you weigh. But if you're a professional athlete struggling to keep his job, you might want to take a cue from your veteran teammates and show up in shape. Or at least pitch well enough so that your weight isn't an issue.

When I slammed the Yankees last month for the way they handled Joba, I got a lot of responses from Yankee fans who were angry at Chamberlain for his work ethic, for him not being in shape, etc. and who felt that he was the only one to blame for his predicament.

On the other hand, it seems like the Yanks have let him get away with that for a long time; it's interesting that only now Cashman mentions using the minor league options with Joba when he flat-out last year said they wouldn't do it.

Wally Matthews made a point I have wondered about myself when he wrote:

Fans ask me all the time if the Yankees know something about Joba Chamberlain that the rest of us don't, some unflattering bit of information that makes them continue to treat him as if he is fragile, or unstable, or in some way unreliable.

Clearly, they know the Joba Chamberlain who chose to reveal himself on Wednesday: the 25-year-old who already knows so much about pitching he no longer needs to bother with the little things anymore.

Like getting in shape.

I don't expect to hear the inside story, if there is one, anytime soon, though. Heck, I'm still waiting to hear how A.J. Burnett got that black eye!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Joba rules - and pitches another quick game - as the Yankees have great eight

I'm out of town this weekend - I'm in Washington, D.C. - so I missed seeing last night's game. I wasn't surprised that the Yankees won. But I was very pleasantly surprised to see that Joba Chamberlain not only won, but continued to pitch quickly - the game finished in less than three hourss.

I think those two items - pitching well and pitching at a fast pace - go hand in hand for Joba. As Derek Jeter, who was happy with Joba's pace, said to the media:

"I told him that after the game, he did a better job of working quick," Jeter said. "The last thing you want to do when you're out there on defense is play slow."

Ain't that the truth. It seems like there are many more errors when Joba moves slowly, than when he picks up the pace. Good to see that Joba is turning it around this year.

But what's going to happen when he reaches the Yankees' innings limit? Is he really going to go back into the bullpen? If so, Mike Francesa will be very pleased!

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In other news, I saw this headline, "Wang may meet with Andrews on Monday," and at first I wondered why the heck Chien-Ming Wang was going to talk with Erin Andrews! Was he going to express sympathy on those peephole pix or something? Then I realized it was James Andrews he was going to meet with. Yikes!

One of our readers emailed me to ask if my thoughts on the Yankees making any trade deadline deals. My guess is that they have to assume Wang is out for the year. So I wouldn't be surprised to see them trade for a fifth starter - they've already said they won't move Phil Hughes out of the bullpen anytime soon.

But will it be Roy Halladay? No chance. And that goes for the Red Sox, too. Why in the world is J.P. Ricciardi going to give his team's franchise player to somebody in their division? I just can't see it happening.

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Marc Carig of the Star-Ledger has done a great job in his first year as a Yankee beat writer. Check out his touching piece on the wonderful carnival the Bombers put on for the kids of Camp Sundown.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Yankees are 'comeback kids' against Tampa Bay

This weekend, one of our readers anonymously opined about the difference between Squawker Jon and me. Jon, the reader said, sounds "like Eeyore" (hmmm, does that make me Tigger?) Meanwhile, I assume "every game should be a Yankees victory, and any decision that is slightly against [my] team is a travesty." And that's a problem, why, exactly?

Fortunately, this season it appears that the Yankees feel the same way; Johnny Damon was recently quoted saying something like that. No, not that Squawker Jon is Eeyore, but about how the Yankees have swagger this year. "We think we can win every game," Damon told the New York Post.

And Nick Swisher posted this on his Twitter account yesterday: "Comeback kids strike again. Awesome game today. Never quit attitude. Amazing."

Anyhow, it's getting to the point where no matter what kind of hole the Yanks are in, you can expect them to make some sort of thrilling comeback rally in late innings. I missed hearing parts of the first half of yesterday's game (like the Jeter bunt controversy) but I did listen to the last few innings, so I got to hear the great Yankee comeback. (But hearing it isn't as exciting as seeing it, and doesn't really paint the full picture of what happened!)

Squawker Jon told me the other day that it's no surprise the Yanks keep on having all these come-from-behind wins, giving that they have a great lineup playing in a bandbox. But yesterday's rally had more to do with small ball than the long ball.

Squawker reader Bostowned said this last week about the Yankees, and I tend to agree:

This team is different. As a fan, I see a 3 game sweep I immediately think...well lets see how they do in the next series against a better team. Then they sweep them. Then I start thinking...hmm....well I wonder how well they'll respond after they finally lose a series. Will they lose all confidence as I've seen so many times in the past? Nope, went on to take the next 2 series. After the last 20 games, Im ready to believe that this team isn't the 2004-2008 teams at all. Nothing seems to get them down and break their confidence. Every game appears winnable no matter what the score is or who's on the mound.

Yesterday not only had a thrilling rally, but Mariano Rivera earning the WWE belt for his save, which included getting Evan Longoria out this time! But the real MVP of yesterday's game, and the unsung hero of this season, was Alfredo Aceves, who pitched two scoreless innings to keep the Yankees in the game. He mentioned something about wanting to be like Ramiro Mendoza in Suzyn Waldman's postgame interview with him. As Suzyn pointed out, he's done his homework!
Good stuff.

I'm guessing, though, that Joba Chamberlain's performance yesterday will push Mike Francesa to go on yet another rant about how he should pitch in the bullpen. Good grief.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!