Yanks keep 'Joba Plan' close to vest
Righty will throw Saturday, but details remain a mystery
By Anthony DiComo / MLB.com
NEW YORK -- The surprise of Joba Chamberlain's reassignment to the rotation
has faded. Now for the logistics.
Chamberlain will pitch on Saturday -- that much is all but certain.
He confirmed that he'll throw approximately 45 pitches, and outside
of that, the Yankees are keeping mum.
But such prearranged game plans don't always work, and that's a problem
that will follow these Yankees throughout Chamberlain's transition from
reliever to starter.
The team has drawn up a rough schedule of how much and how often Chamberlain
will pitch, but everything still revolves around the players beside him. If
the Yankees are cruising through the middle innings on Saturday afternoon
with Chien-Ming Wang on the mound, for example, then manager Joe Girardi
can't easily justify taking him out.
(這裡提小王，只是舉例，他不確定是誰先發，just yet)
Girardi will be faced with a decision, though he already knows what he will
choose.
"The commitment is always to win the game first," Girardi said. "That's
the commitment. We're not here in a rebuilding mode. We're here to win."
So if Chamberlain is due to hit a certain pitch count, as he will be on
Saturday, he might not be able to do it all in the game. Just as pitchers
often complete their workloads in the bullpen during Spring Training,
Chamberlain might have to do the same -- whether it's because he's getting
hit hard in a close game, or because his teammates are thriving.
"It's laid out," Girardi said of the plan, "but it's flexible."
Even Chamberlain isn't entirely sure how this Joba Plan might work.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Chamberlain said. "It's just going to
kind of depend on how my body reacts. I've never done this before,
so we've got to make sure that we do it the right way. It's a long
season, and we'll do it the safest way."
What's clear is that both Chamberlain and the Yankees want him to start,
and both parties are committed to making it happen.
That comes with a new set of expectations, considering the extent to
which Chamberlain has dominated during his first several months in the
league. The learning curve is gone and the grace period over, and fans
expect Chamberlain to win. Now.
The Yankees expect that, too, and they also don't expect it to take
very long.
"He seems to handle the expectations pretty well," Girardi said. "He
burst onto the scene, there's no doubt about it. But I think he has
the mentality to really handle it."
Anthony DiComo is a reporter for MLB.com.
This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball
or its clubs.
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