TAMPA — Brian Cashman said he’s not a fan of engaging in hypothetical situations. The Yankees GM’s most trusted lieutenant, though, did exactly that.
As did his pitching coach.
So Cashman had to put out a Joba Chamberlain organizational fire yesterday, addressing the never-ending debate surrounding Chamberlain’s starting/relieving status.
Saturday, Yankees senior director of pro personnel Billy Eppler, who’s emerged over the past few years as Cashman’s most trusted lieutenant on player personnel matters, said on WFAN that he doubted Chamberlain — currently a reliever after losing the fifth-starter race last week — would even be in the rotation derby next season.
Also, pitching coach Dave Eiland told the Star-Ledger of Newark yesterday that, in his mind, Chamberlain would not pitch in the rotation at all this season and that going forward “he’s in the bullpen and he’s there to stay, period.”
Cashman, though, said the Yankees had not come to any decision yet about Chamberlain’s 2011 role.
“We haven’t had any team meeting and said, ‘All right, he’s a reliever for the rest of his life,’ ” Cashman said. “No, we didn’t do that. That’s never been discussed.”
The GM also said Eiland’s claim that Chamberlain wouldn’t start any games this year simply must have been the pitching coach’s opinion: “He may have had the conversation separately, but I have weekly meetings and that has not come up in any of our weekly meetings.”
Eppler later told The Post that his radio remarks regarding Chamberlain’s 2011 role “came from me. I was being honest.” He said, “We have not been in a point where we discussed future years for anybody.”
Eppler did say he saw Chamberlain and quipped, “Didn’t mean to create more questions for you.” He said Chamberlain replied that he’d probably sleep just fine.
Cashman, who gushed about Eppler’s value yesterday and encourages his young exec to deal with the media, said he believes Chamberlain is “a starter that’s pitching out of the pen” simply because the Yankees’ rotation is stacked with CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Javier Vazquez and Andy Pettitte. Cashman’s view is that, at the moment, Chamberlain is best utilized as a reliever.
Next season, though, Cashman is making no promises, especially because Vazquez is a free agent after this year and Pettitte is no guarantee to pitch.
“Listen, if I’m asked the question, I’m not getting into (2011). I’m dealing with (2010),” he said. “So is it possible he can be in the rotation? Yeah, I’d say it’s all possible.”
To be fair, Eppler did say on the radio that, “If we were in a different setting, a different situation, you might see Joba Chamberlain in a rotation.”
One thing to note is that even if one of the current Yankees relievers were needed to make a start at the beginning of the year, Joe Girardi said it’s more likely to be Alfredo Aceves or Sergio Mitre than Chamberlain. Chamberlain, by the way, said he has no starter/reliever preference.
Cashman said he feels like he’ll never escape the questions.
“It sounds like the Joba starter-relief thing will be forever,” he said. “How about we just add the little word to the shirt and have a new shirt — Joba Rules Forever. Leave it like that.”