TAMPA — Joba Chamberlain was a phenom in 2007. He was going to be Josh Beckett in 2008, and those hopes persisted into 2009. By last year, he was battling for the fifth starter’s job.
In 2011, Chamberlain is in a battle again, this time against David Robertson to pitch the seventh inning for the Yankees.
The next step down is what? Triple-A? Another organization? A memory of what could have been?
For someone who has been trending the wrong way in his organization’s eyes, Chamberlain decided on a strange way to give his latest first impression of spring. In general manager Brian Cashman’s words, Joba showed up “heavy.”
How heavy? Well, we may have to wait for WikiLeaks to, um, weigh in because Yankees officials and Chamberlain refused to divulge the number. But if Chamberlain were, say, 3 pounds over the weight, he was asked to show up at 5 or even 10 pounds over, there would be little issue here. But it is noticeable that both Chamberlain has put on significant weight and the Yankees are significantly annoyed.
“You do think about what it says,” manager Joe Girardi responded to what it means that a player in a battle for a lesser job — and maybe even a roster spot — has opened up questions about his conditioning.
Girardi tried to mitigate the issue by saying a few times that “Joba is going to be evaluated on how he pitches.” In other words, even a fitness fanatic such as Girardi wouldn’t care if Chamberlain showed up looking like Rex Ryan as long as he consistently gets outs during the season.
Nevertheless, Girardi has a tendency to offer sunny words in place of full honesty. And his actions speak to a manager who does not trust Chamberlain.
Consider that at his opening spring press conference, Girardi tried to defend Chamberlain by noting how well the righty pitched the last two months of 2010. From August on, Chamberlain had a 2.36 ERA and a .200 batting average against.
But Chamberlain’s performance in August and September meant so much to Girardi that the manager all but put him in the witness protection program in October. Chamberlain did not pitch in the Division Series and worked in three ALCS games in which the Yankees were hopelessly behind, twice coming into games as early as the fifth inning.
When Kerry Wood was obtained at last year’s trade deadline, Girardi said he would look at matchups to determine how to deploy his late-game bullpen. But Wood instantly became the eighth-inning man. This offseason Girardi was a key vote in favor of the club signing Rafael Soriano to the largest contract ever for a setup man.
Does anyone see any of this as a vote of confidence in Joba?
Yet Chamberlain obviously did not get the message. He insists he put a weight room into his house and that his additional bulk is muscle. But, if that were the case, Girardi and Cashman would be leading a chorus of cheers, not diversions away from Chamberlain’s actual weight. And if Chamberlain were so comfortable with the number, why would he not say what it was? Instead, he called this “a dead issue” and vowed not to talk about his size again this year.
The way to silence the weight watchers, though, is by excelling. To that end, Chamberlain said he believes knowing his job from beginning of spring to the end of the season for the first time as a major leaguer will help his mind and skills. He said he has never felt stronger and, so far, has done well in the conditioning drills despite the weight, Girardi said. In addition, he has thrown five bullpen sessions since arriving and the word is the ball is coming out of his hand with easy explosion. He credits a return to a change in his windup that allows him to more easily repeat his motion.
Look, Chamberlain is just 25 years old. He has been a full-time pitcher for just six years. He has been jerked around in numerous roles by the Yankees. He had enormous expectations thrust upon him instantly. So maybe there will be a reward to come involving at least seventh-inning genius.
Nevertheless, he is running out of chances. Will this be the season in which Chamberlain tips the scales toward consistent excellence or toward a Yankees exit?
joel.sherman@nypost.com