Wow! Joba Chamberlain pitched one scoreless inning to close out last night's game! That inning was clearly more valuable than the 6.2 Burnett pitched (with 1 ER) to start the game!
Ok, seriously, yes Joba pitched a scoreless frame, but am I the only one that thought he didn't look particularly good? His slider was getting too much of the plate, and he escaped unscathed because he induced a hard grounder that was fortunately hit right at the shortstop (and turned into two outs).
The YES announcers said Joba would remain a reliever all year. The Yankees don't want to push and pull him between starting and relieving, even if someone goes down. They want him to know and focus 100% on being a relief pitcher. Despite the poor decision to make him a reliever in the first place, this secondary decision does make sense. If he's going to be in the pen, just let him worry about that and not about going back to starting. Cashman still sees him as a starter long-term, but there won't be any worrying about it until next March.
- Elsewhere, The Biz of Baseball ponders whether Jeter's interest in owning a team and his upcoming contract negotiations could result in him getting an ownership share in the Yankees.
- When it looked like, all off-season, we would see Jon Lester oppose CC Sabathia on opening night, Boston throws a curveball. It'll be impending free-agent Josh Beckett.
- TMZ is reporting the Yankees will receive their World Series rings before the home opener on April 13th.