DETROIT – Joba Chamberlain can start getting acclimated to life in the bullpen again, but he shouldn’t plan on staying there beyond the next few weeks.
“He’s a starter who is pitching out of the bullpen,” GM Brian Cashman said yesterday, penciling Chamberlain into the team’s starting rotation for 2009.
The Yankees will try to maximize their usage of Chamberlain until then, making him their primary setup option for Mariano Rivera.
Chamberlain will be activated from the disabled list before tonight’s game at Tampa Bay and available to pitch for the first time since Aug. 4, when he exited his start at Texas with soreness in his right shoulder, which was later diagnosed as rotator cuff tendinitis.
Given the Yanks’ sense of urgency – they were 6 1/2 games behind Boston in the wild-card chase, as the Red Sox prepared to play the Orioles last night – manager Joe Girardi said it’s not feasible to wait for Chamberlain to build up the arm strength needed for starting.
And the manager has all but ruled out the possibility of stretching out Chamberlain during the season, as the Yankees did in June when he began the transformation into starter.
“We’ll probably just do bullpen the rest of the year,” Girardi said before the Yankees beat the Tigers 13-9 yesterday. “We think in this situation he can give us more valuable innings as a bullpen guy.”
Girardi noted that if the Yankees were to begin stretching out Chamberlain, the right-hander would need three days off after reaching the 50-pitch plateau. Once he reached the 65-pitch plateau, the rest would probably be four days between appearances.
“This way we can use him a lot more regularly,” Girardi said.
Of bigger concern than Chamberlain’s role should be whether his shoulder is ready. The possibility exists the Yankees could shut him down completely once they are mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, but Girardi isn’t ready to broach that subject.
“I don’t think about mathematically impossible,” Girardi said.
Chamberlain acknowledged he’s anxious to become a starter again, but also realizes there’s a need for him in the bullpen.
“That’s the good thing that you have, you come out and have a chance to help your team win every day,” Chamberlain said. “It’s a different feeling as a reliever than it is a starter.”
mpuma@nypost.com