Via Peter Gammons:
The Yankees are planning to go to spring training with Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain being programmed to start. "They can always go from starting to the bullpen, but it's tough going the other way," says Yankees general manager Brian Cashman.
Cashman feels David Robertson and Damaso Marte can pitch the seventh and eighth innings in front of Mariano Rivera, but a Yankees run at John Lackey, Ben Sheets or another starter hasn't been ruled out. The feeling inside the Yankees' offices is that there will be some payroll cutback, but how much is not known.
This scares me. I really can’t believe Cashman believes this. If I were to send a letter to Cashman, here’s how it would read:
When you watched Joba pitch from your beautiful box behind home plate, did you notice how Chamberlain through 92 MPH as a starter and hit 98 MPH as a reliever? It takes Chamberlain’s arm a few appearances to get his arm strength back. So, he definitely can’t always go from starting to the bullpen.
Firstly, you are stupid to think Chamberlain is still a starter after his garbage year last year. Hughes could possibly live up to your expectations, but Chamberlain looked out of place (and I used to see him as a starter!).
Secondly, this means you are going with a rotation of CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte, Hughes and Chamberlain for 2010. Cash, this isn’t the postseason where you can get away with only three legitimate starters. You need to go out and find another legit starter, and that doesn’t mean you have to spend the bank on John Lackey or the prospects for Roy Halladay (even though I’d like that).
Finally, taking both of those guys out of the bullpen leaves your pen short-staffed. Now you are going to have to give up a little for a Rafael Soriano or Mike Gonzalez.
So please, Cash, get your head screwed on right, put Joba back in the pen where he belongs and find a real starter!
