Joba Chamberlain will prepare during spring training as a starter, but will begin the season in the Yankee bullpen barring injury to any of the other five main rotation members, team officials confirmed to The Post.
It had been speculated throughout the offseason that Chamberlain could open in the ‘pen as a way to restrain his innings from going beyond the approximately 140 the organization wants to limit him to in 2008. The Yanks believe that at Chamberlain’s age (22), he should not be asked to exceed his innings total of last year (112.1) by much more than 30 innings, or else he would be put at a greater likelihood for an arm injury.
But these new Joba Rules are not only about protecting Chamberlain’s precious arm. The Yanks also want to use April and May as an audition for his successor. The idea would be to have a slate of young relievers work in the less pressurized sixth and seventh innings. The organizational hope is that someone from a group that could include Alan Horne, Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez and Ross Ohlendorf emerges in reliability and can graduate to the eighth-inning role when Chamberlain is transitioned back to the rotation.
The Yanks’ ideal plan works in this fashion, according to executives briefed on the strategy:
1. Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy would stay healthy to form the rotation. All five would be needed from the outset because the Yanks have just two scheduled off-days from March 31 through May 4.
2. Chamberlain stabilizes the area the Yankees profess offers their greatest uncertainty in 2008: Their setup crew in front of Mariano Rivera. The Yanks envision Chamberlain dominating in the eighth based on his 0.38 ERA and .145 batting average against in 19 regular-season games as a reliever last year.
3. The Yanks see the Chamberlain/Rivera tandem helping them be a dominant late-inning team over the first two months of the season. At some point in June, the Yanks would send Chamberlain to the minors for 3-4 weeks to stretch him out to 5-6 innings in preparation to be a full-time starter in the second half.
4. The Yanks hope is that over the first two months other relievers show enough fortitude/reliability to be moved into the eighth inning. Only Kyle Farnsworth and LaTroy Hawkins are guaranteed jobs. The Yanks think Girardi, who was a Cub teammate of Farnsworth for three years, might help the talented righty find greater consistency and grab the eighth inning.
But the Yanks also plan to create a competition beginning in spring for relief jobs. And they are not just limiting the competition to relievers such as Veras, Chris Britton, Brian Bruney and Jonathan Albaladejo, and independent league finds with superb minor-league stats such as Ramirez and Scott Patterson. The Yanks are open to converting a starter with a big arm, as they did with Ohlendorf last year. Horne, Jeff Marquez, Daniel McCutcheon and Steven White will be considered.
The wild cards are Humberto Sanchez and Mark Melancon. They are viewed as having among the biggest arms in the organization. But both are returning from Tommy John surgery and would likely not even be under consideration until about when Chamberlain would be heading to the rotation. Melancon has just 62/3 innings of pro experience. But some Yankee executives are so enamored with his recovery, arm and, especially, his makeup that they think he could be this year’s Chamberlain, rocketing through the entire system to the majors.
Of course, these plans are fragile. Pettitte must show his publicized link to HGH has not impacted his pitching. Mussina, 39, must demonstrate he has something left after a poor 2007. Hughes and Kennedy must prove they are ready to be major-league starters from the outset of the season. The Yanks must believe Horne, Marquez, Jeff Karstens or Kei Igawa can be an extra starter if need be early while Chamberlain relieves. Rivera must stay healthy so the Yanks are not tempted to move Chamberlain into the closing job.
And Chamberlain must be physically and mentally able to handle a unique proposition in which he will be asked to throw approximately 30-40 relief innings, be shuttled to the minors and then promoted to start for about another 90 or so innings.