With Joba Chamberlain’s well-documented conversion from setup man to starter, there has been much debate about who the Yankees will find to replace him in the eighth inning.
Like Chamberlain last season, the answer may lie within the Yankees minor league system. One of the first candidates to get a crack at the Yankees bullpen should be J.B. Cox, currently with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre.
Entering the season, Cox had fallen off the radar after Tommy John surgery in spring training knocked him out for all of 2007.
“I was pretty ticked off,” Cox said. “No one wants to get hurt and miss the whole year.”
But Cox, who throws a sinking fastball, slider and changeup, did his rehab, and came back with a vengeance this season. After spending roughly two weeks with Single-A Tampa and Double-A Trenton, Cox was promoted to Triple-A May 13. On Friday, Cox gave up his first run in 10 appearances with SWB.
“I’m pretty simple (on the mound),” Cox said. “I don’t try to over think anything, I just go after hitters with my best stuff. I might have the ball put in play a little bit more, but my defense has done the job for me, so I’m going to keep doing it.”
A National League scout compared Cox with Mets reliever Joe Smith, because of their similar three-quarter arm slot, and said Cox’s ceiling likely was as a setup man.
“He is a low three-quarter side-arm guy, and when that kind of guy comes out of the bullpen, he could be very effective,” the scout said. “It’s not the same cookie-cutter look coming out of the pen.”
Nardi Contreras, the Yankees minor league pitching coordinator, agreed that Cox’s unorthodox delivery helped, but added that without quality stuff, the deception wouldn’t matter.
“He’s got some deception,” Contreras said. “But he’s also got some quality pitches. Deception means nothing if you have nothing to go with it.”
tbontemps@nypost.com