Manager Joe Girardi announced “The Joba Rules, Version 3.0” yesterday.
After watching Joba Chamberlain’s ineffective start on extra rest this week, the Yankees are moving the fragile right-hander back into the regular five-man rotation.
The innings limit for the season will remain, though, and the Yankees plan to pull Chamberlain after just a few innings in several of his upcoming starts.
“The bottom line is for us to win games and get the best out of players,” Girardi said. “In evaluating what happened, it looked like it was working great. He came out of the break and was lights-out. But we think that a change needed to be made. We were listening to him and talking amongst ourselves.”
The Yankees had been giving Chamberlain extra rest between starts in an effort to keep his workload below a team-imposed innings limit, which Girardi revealed yesterday is 180, including the playoffs.
The Rangers roughed up the 23-year-old on Tuesday, scoring seven runs in four innings. That led Girardi to tweak the plan. Girardi talked with pitching coach Dave Eiland and general manager Brian Cashman after Tuesday’s game, mulled it over and then told Chamberlain of the change before last night’s 5-2, 10-inning victory over the White Sox at the Stadium.
“We’ve always had a plan back and forth,” Chamberlain said. “We tried it. It didn’t work. We’re going to try this, and I think it’s going to be great. It’s something that I’m looking forward to.”
Chamberlain, 8-4 with a 4.34 ERA this season, his first as a full-time starter, has pitched 130 2/3 innings. He probably has six or seven more starts in the regular season, beginning with tomorrow against the White Sox. Girardi said the team feels there’s a “danger” to pitching him more than 180 innings. With that in mind, Chamberlain probably will be limited to three innings in his next few starts, then the workload will be increased to prepare him for the postseason.
“The important thing is to make sure by the end of [September] that he’s extremely ready to go,” Girardi said.
The adjustment to the plan comes with rosters set to expand on Tuesday, giving Girardi more relievers to work with. The team hopes to have Chamberlain at 100-110 pitches per start by the end of the season. Once the playoffs come Girardi said it will be “all hands on deck” and the limits will be off.
Chamberlain has not had a strong outing since throwing eight shutout innings at Tampa Bay on July 29. Tuesday’s start against the Rangers came on eight days’ rest and ended with him throwing 44 pitches in the fourth inning.
The Yankees have handled Chamberlain with kid gloves since his arrival in August 2007, hoping to avoid the arm injuries that have derailed other young pitchers.
“I’ve learned to be very patient in the three years I’ve been here,” Chamberlain said. “The Joba Rules are still going strong. I still see the T-shirts every once in a while. But it’s better. It’s going to make everything better in the long run.”
Girardi said he does not feel handcuffed managing with the innings limit and everyone in the organization believes this will help Chamberlain in the long run.
“The overall concern is not just this year,” Girardi said. “It’s his long-term future as a starter. We had to weigh the benefits of that. We feel, for the player, we think we’ll get more out of him this way.”