Joba To The Rotation And Other Stories

• The uproar over Joba Chamberlain's move to the rotation becomes deafening:

    There are a series of justifiable arguments for leaving Joba Chamberlain in his former role as the eighth inning man in front of Mariano Rivera----Chamberlain is so dominating in that spot that once the Yankees get a lead after seven innings, the game is basically over; this should have been done in the winter, so a viable eighth inning man could have been found; moving Chamberlain into the rotation creates a hole that not even Kyle Farnsworth's biceps are going to be able to fill; the Yankees are not a team that is trying to build for the future, so they have to try and win right now and because of that, they can't afford to be throwing away games in order to develop pitchers as some other teams in a less stressful atmosphere could. That being said, in looking at the big picture, Chamberlain and the Yankees have to see if he can be a starting pitcher. With the holes that are currently in their tattered rotation and the entire American League struggling, they might as well do it now.
    How much the pressure exerted by Hank Steinbrenner on the Yankees front office to make the move has affected its expediency is impossible to know. GM Brian Cashman has effectively blunted Steinbrenner's bloviating so far and it doesn't appear as if he's letting his contract status affect his decisions (his ego, but not his contract), so this appears to be a baseball decision. As great as Chamberlain is in the bullpen, the consensus among those that have seen the pitcher's other pitches is that he also has the potential to be a brilliant starting pitcher. To take a youngster like Chamberlain, at age 22 and pigeonhole him as a relief pitcher when he might become a Roger Clemens-like starting pitcher is unfair to him. He deserves a chance to show what he can do in that role.
    Chamberlain doesn't seem like the type to demand that he be made a starter or sulk if he isn't getting that chance to earn a starting pitcher's paycheck. (It also helps that he plays for a team that pays their relievers about as lucratively as they pay their starters.) The comparison to a guy like Jonathan Papelbon is also unfair because Papelbon was worked into the Red Sox bullpen in 2005 and was moved to closer's role out of necessity; he was also 25 when he took over the job full time. Mariano Rivera is another example of a young pitcher who was thrust into the dominant seventh and eighth inning role in 1996, but people forget that Rivera was 26 and fell into that role by accident; there also wasn't the giant hole in the rotation for either the Red Sox or 1996 Yankees that there is in the 2008 Yankees. And he's 22-years old! Team needs aside, to sentence a guy to fifteen years of relieving when he could possibly be a dominating starter is baseball malpractice.
    The Yankees have a set number of innings that they want their youngsters to throw as they work their way up. The way it's worked out for Chamberlain, his innings threshold will be reached if he's a halfway decent starter (averaging six or so innings a start) from this point on. The Yankees have taken everything into account in making this move now, and to dismiss it as "stupid" for the way it was done is ignoring the possible dominance Chamberlain may bring to the rotation. They're doing it now while the situation isn't dire; they're doing it now because it's best for the pitcher to see if he can fulfill that potential using all four of his pitches; and they're doing it now because, worst case scenario (barring him getting hurt) is if it doesn't work, they can simply move him back to the bullpen. Making the transition the opposite way is much more difficult the older a pitcher gets and, given the pitcher's abilities, it has a very good chance of working out just as the Yankees planned.

• The Blue Jays need one power bat to be legit contenders:

    With that starting pitching and that deep and diverse bullpen, the Blue Jays could be a genuine championship contender if they had one power bat in the middle of the lineup. Vernon Wells wasn't it even when he was healthy and Alexis Rios might have had a career year last season. The one name I would keep an eye on if I were the Blue Jays is Matt Holliday. He's proven himself to be a guy who loves the spotlight and, despite having massive numbers in Colorado and lesser numbers on the road, would still be an All Star player no matter what kind of home park he plays in. He'd fit right in with the feisty David Eckstein and intense Roy Halladay and he'd be exactly what the Blue Jays need to possibly make a playoff run instead of having a late season hot streak to make their record respectable and appear to be a team on the rise when they're really just an also-ran.

• One of the best parts of the InDemand baseball package is the out of state, local commercials we see:

    Of course there are the national spots like for beer and car companies, but it's the local ads that are the funniest. Randy Johnson transposed in front of an Arizona car dealership and delivering his lines as if he's Krusty the Klown with a glazed look in his eyes saying, "I heartily endorse this event and/or product"; the personal injury law firms of Ohio, Illinois and Arizona; the most repulsive looking fast food products in world history----Sonic; the Belle Tire guy in Michigan with his little cartoon character sidekick----they're all worth mentioning, but I'm wondering if those across the country and world see the New York area ads and think they're as bizarre.
    There's the Giuseppe Franco commercials for Procede hair product----YouTube Clip----featuring a group of men for whom a lack of thick, full hair is the least of their problems discussing how wonderful the product is at making their hair appear thicker. Franco looks something like Eddie Munster and for a Beverly Hills hair salon to have Gary Busey as their "celebrity client" makes me wonder what other "celebrity clients" they have, if any. In fact using Busey as the celebrity endorser for a hair salon would probably lead me away from the place given that Busey's hair looks like he pressed the index and middle fingers of both hands together and shoved each pair of fingers into separate light sockets.
    Another ad that I just don't get is the one for a Queens car dealership where the president of the company, Sam Fox, proudly introduces Phil Lombardo as his dealership's new GM. It's one of those things where you watch the commercial, see Phil introduced and say with a puzzled look, "Um, oh kaaaay?" I'm not quite sure if we're supposed to automatically know who Phil Lombardo is like he's the Branch Rickey of the car dealership GM set, but that's the impression I get from the way the guy's introduced. It also doesn't help that Phil's Brooklyn accent makes me wonder if I'd get my legs broken if I decided I didn't want to buy one of his cars.

• A suggestion for Paul DePodesta's next blog:

    How does the square root of the hypotenuse in the corners of Petco Park affect Paul McAnulty and Justin Huber as their batting averages hover on the interstate? Discuss...