Hank the Tank

It is now abundantly clear that Hank Steinbrenner is more belligerent and bipolar than George. He doesn't seem to understand the game of baseball and injects himself into the team when he is most unwanted.

Here is his latest outburst:

"I want (Joba Chamberlain) as a starter and so does everyone else, including him, and that is what we are working toward and we need him there now," Steinbrenner told the New York Times. "There is no question about it, you don't have a guy with a 100-mile-per-hour fastball and keep him as a setup guy. You just don't do that. You have to be an idiot to do that."

Everyone wants him to do this? Including Chamberlain? Hm, I don't think I have heard him say anything of the sort. And if everyone wants it, then I would just leave it up to Joe Girardi, but obviously he doesn't seem to want this move either. Girardi showed in Florida that he doesn't like being controlled or tampered with by ownership and management. Lest we forget that just a short time ago Hank was predicting that Girardi would go down as the greatest Yankee manager of all time (Note to Hank: Joe Torre works in Los Angeles now).

I am beginning to wonder if Hank has been around baseball much, as one-inning set-up men are not usually the first candidates for moving into the starting rotation. Sure, Joba can throw 100 mph when he knows that he's only pitching for one inning, but stretch that out over 5 to 7 innings and his arm could be done after 60 pitches.

Health and durability aside, lets look at the strategic aspect of this potential disaster. So Chamberlain is injected into the rotation, meaning someone is tossed to the pen. Phil Hughes or Ian Kennedy I assume, which sends a terrible message to the organization as a whole. Those two young arms have been groomed for years to reach this position, and all of the sudden the best pitcher in the pen takes the spot they've waited and trained for? No way. Mussina isn't going to the pen and I doubt that Pettitte would be too happy about losing his position as a starting pitcher. Wang isn't even an option, as he's been their best and most consistent pitcher to-date.

Looking past the rotation, there is no one else in the bullpen who is dominant enough to step up and fill the set-up role. Mariano Rivera is not going to be his own set-up man again this year. He is not durable enough to go more than an inning anymore. Beyond this speculation, there would be no way that Chamberlain could just jump into the rotation without about four or five starts in the minors, which could take about a month of the season.

Cashman has come out today in response to Steinbrenner and said this:

"Joba's staying in the bullpen right now," Cashman told Newsday on Monday. "That's where we're at. [Putting him in the rotation is] not something that's going to happen here early on, and [Hank] knows that. We've talked about it. I don't know what set him off."

Even as a Yankee-hater, I appreciate Cashman's job and response. He puts up with more garbage than any GM in the entire league and he has the fire engine response down pat. He seemed to wave away Hank like a gnat, treating him like the five-year old he acts like. Just another example of how owners should keep their complaints internal. Pull the GM aside and say something instead of pulling aside the closest New York Times reporter.