TAMPA – This is a new season and a new set of Joba Rules.
Manager Joe Girardi and GM Brian Cashman made that clear yesterday. They want Joba Chamberlain to continue to be his outgoing self – but they also want to make sure the rookie right-hander does not get carried away with his newfound celebrity status and spread himself too thin.
There’s only so much Joba to go around, and pitching for the Yankees must be his top priority. Chamberlain has gotten the message.
“He’s kind of drinking from a fire hose right now,” Cashman said at Legends Field.
“So much has happened for him because of the 24 innings of major-league work. It was 24 innings, so it’s incumbent on all of us around him who care about him, his father and everyone in the Yankee family to make sure that we slow it all down for him because sometimes that stuff can carry you away.”
Chamberlain, 22, fully understands what is at stake. He said he is already learning to say no to outside forces.
“You’ve got to do your job first,” he said. “If you don’t do your job you don’t get the chance to do anything else.”
Of his incredible celebrity status, Chamberlain noted, “It’s a blessing and a curse. Everybody wants you.”
There are business opportunities, charity events, fans and media, who all want their piece of Joba.
Girardi, who knows what’s going on in his clubhouse, had a good talk with the rookie this week and told him he knows it can be difficult.
“It’s just hard because Joba’s got such a big heart,” the manager said. “I just remember as a young player, and I was playing at home [in Chicago], the hardest thing for me was saying no. I had college friends, I had family, but you can’t do everything.”
This past week, Chamberlain took a family from his hometown of Lincoln, Neb., on a vacation to Disney World, a worthwhile venture, part of an ESPN promotion in which he appeared on “Baseball Tonight.”
On the trip, Chamberlain, who never could afford a family vacation, rode a roller coaster for the first time in his life. The roller-coaster ride continued Wednesday when he gave up a long two-run home run to Twins minor leaguer Garrett Jones.
Chamberlain said that outing already is forgotten, but he did admit his popularity could hurt his preparation.
“You may think physically and mentally you’re ready, but your mind starts to wander and you become lackadaisical,” he said. “You’re not as locked in as you should be.”
The Yankees are walking a fine line because if Joba’s personality is squashed; it could affect his mound approach. Last year at this time no one really knew who Chamberlain was. Now he is as popular as Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Mariano Rivera, all after only 24 innings of major-league work.
“Joba has a big heart and he wants to help so many people, but you can’t do it all at once,” Girardi said. “I don’t want him to change his heart, that’s the thing, because that’s what makes him so special, but everything has to be at the right time.”
Girardi and Cashman expect Chamberlain to make the adjustment.
“He’s really level-headed,” Cashman said. “I do trust this won’t have an adverse affect on him, but at the same time you have to manage it. You can’t trust that everybody can manage all of it. That’s why the support system is there, and hopefully with all the people that care about him, his life will continue as it was before Aug. 7, when we called him up to the big leagues.
“He’s a special individual and hopefully that will never change. He’s such a big kid, he does have his priorities straight, and that all goes to what his dad taught him. I’m hoping when he’s 40 years old and still playing this game that he still has that little kid in him, because that’s what people love about him.”
That, and his 100-mph fastball, killer slider and big breaking ball.
“I just have to continue to learn to say no,” Joba said. “It’s very, very hard. I just have to continue to work at my job.”
The kid is still a kid.
“I’m learning,” he said.
He must. This is a most valuable lesson in the Life of Joba.