This call to the bullpen

"Words were not needed. Joba Chamberlain's body language screamed confidence and the scoreboard flashed 97 mph. Here at the end of his most taxing season, Chamberlain was a strutting fire-breather again. In the postseason.

• As a reliever.

The difference from the starter who too often was tentative and too frequently throwing fastballs at 89-91 mph was stark. As one Yankees official noted recently, "It was hard to miss."

• The transformation was so blatant, in fact, that the No. 5 starter competition between Chamberlain and Phil Hughes is almost over two weeks before pitchers and catchers even report.

The Yankees never would admit it publicly, but if the season were to begin today, Hughes would be in the rotation and Joba would be Mariano Rivera's primary set-up man -- and, perhaps, heir apparent.

• For that to change, one of two issues probably must occur in spring:

1) Hughes flops (a possibility if he does not better hone a changeup), or,

2) A main veteran starter goes down (a possibility, especially considering the heavy workloads endured last season by CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte)....

• But by morphing back into a confident, dart-throwing reliever in the postseason, Chamberlain has pushed the Yanks to more seriously consider that he
• might not have been suffering rotation growing pains and, instead,
• simply is more temperamentally built to work out of the pen.

And, really, the bigger question the Yanks might want to ask in spring is not Joba vs. Hughes as much as 2010 vs. the future."...

• "Joba's Bullpen Call," by Joel Sherman, NY Post, 2/3/10

Above photo from Chamberlain's "Bugs" game, ALDS game 2, 10/5/07. A long time ago.

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon