Davidoff: Give Joba another chance to be a starter

TAMPA, Fla.

Mythbusters, Joba Chamberlain Edition:

1. He is NOT a natural reliever. The Yankees drafted him based on his experience as a starting pitcher at the University of Nebraska.

2. He HAS exhibited ferocity as a starting pitcher. In a nine-start run from June 13 to July 30, 2008, he struck out 61 and walked 18 in 54 innings, putting up a 2.00 ERA.

Then, in his start at Texas on Aug. 4, 2008, Chamberlain left in the fifth inning with an ailing shoulder. Aside from a three-start stretch just after the All-Star break last season, the next time we witnessed that ferocity was . . . last year's playoffs, when he returned to the bullpen, threw harder and delivered better results.

The Yankees held their first pitchers-and-catchers workout of 2010 Thursday at Steinbrenner Field, and for now, Chamberlain is a starter - a competitor (along with Alfredo Aceves, Chad Gaudin, Phil Hughes and Sergio Mitre) for the fifth slot in the rotation.

Yet let's not play dumb here: If everyone above and beneath him on the depth chart stays healthy, Chamberlain will start the regular season as Mariano Rivera's setup man, with Hughes likely (but not definitely) in the rotation.

I say, give Joba one more bona fide chance to be a starter. Such an endeavor has little to lose and so much to gain.

"He has four pitches," pitching coach Dave Eiland said. "If he goes out there and he's the Joba in a starting role with the mentality and approach he has as a reliever, then he's going to be a very good starter."

Last season, no major-league pitcher who threw at least 50 innings in both 2008 and 2009 experienced a greater drop in velocity than did Chamberlain, whose average fastball went from 95.0 mph to 92.5 (thanks to FanGraphs for the data).

The natural question, then: Did Joba hold back, fearful that putting too much on the ball would steer him back toward the disabled list? Did that lead to the ultimately disappointing campaign?

"We asked him that," general manager Brian Cashman said. "He said no."

Chamberlain said Thursday: "It's just one of those things where you're trying to find yourself as a pitcher. Trying to find what's comfortable for you."

He expressed enthusiasm about going after the starter's job. "I'm probably a month and a half, or two, ahead of where I was last year with my arm strength and everything going that way," he said.

Then again, he also said this: "It's one of those things where your margin for error in the bullpen, especially in situations that I got put in, is a lot less . . . I don't want to say your focus is different down there, but you also know that you don't have to be as perfect as a starter as you do in the bullpen."

Which doesn't quite mesh with Eiland: "He's going to go out there and attack, and have the same demeanor as a starter [that he did] as a reliever. He's aware of that now."

So why even move forward if Chamberlain and Eiland aren't quite in sync? Because such words shouldn't count for much. Because if Chamberlain, relieved of his innings limits, finds that '08 mojo, the payoff could be immense. The Yankees could feel less pressure to go after a free agent such as Josh Beckett or Cliff Lee next offseason.

A good setup man? Much, much easier to find.

So try Chamberlain as a starter, and let's say by the end of April, he still is that slow-as-molasses guy we saw last year. Then switch him to the bullpen, put Hughes (who needs to pace himself anyway, given that his innings limit figures to be about 180) in the rotation and move forward.

They've come this far in the endless, breathless Joba Debate. What's another month or two?