As The Joba Turns...

Does anybody know what to do with Joba? According to Mark Hale's article in today's Post, apparently not.

- On Saturday, Yankee senior director of pro personnel Billy Eppler... said on WFAN that he doubted Chamberlain... would even be in the rotation derby next season.

- Also, pitching coach Dave Eiland told the Star-Ledger of Newark yesterday that, in his mind, Chamberlain would not pitch in the rotation at all this season and that going forward "he's in the bullpen and he's there to stay, period."

- Cashman, though, insisted the Yankees had not come to any decision yet about Chamberlain's 2011 role.
"We haven't had any team meeting and said, 'All right, he's a reliever for the rest of his life,' " Cashman said. "No, we didn't do that. That's never been discussed."

- "Listen, if I'm asked the question, I'm not getting into '011. I'm dealing with '010," he said. "So is it possible he can be in the rotation? Yeah, I'd say it's all possible."

- Eppler did say on the radio that, "If we were in a different setting, a different situation, you might see Joba Chamberlain in a rotation."

- ... if one of the current Yankees relievers were needed to make a start at the beginning of the year, manager Joe Girardi said it's more likely to be Alfredo Aceves or Sergio Mitre than Chamberlain.

- "It sounds like the Joba starter-relief thing will be forever," he [Cashman] said. "How about we just add the little word to the shirt and have a new shirt -- Joba Rules Forever. Leave it like that."

So basically Joba is a starter pitching out of the bullpen this season and he isn't going to be in the rotation next year. He's going to be in the bullpen permanently, but a decision hasn't been made on his future and he might be in the rotation next year. The team isn't discussing plans for 2011 because they are focused on 2010 but it is possible Joba will be in the rotation in 2011 even though he won't be considered for a starting role this season and there is going to be a constant starter-reliever debate for his entire career, except the team isn't discussing the future yet. Everybody got that? Good.

At this point, the best thing to do with Joba might be to have him cryogenically frozen and stuck in some sub-zero temperature vault next to Ted Williams' head in Arizona until the Yankees can come to a conclusion as to what exactly he is and what exactly they plan on using him for moving forward. They've already fucked him up bad enough in the last 3 years and there's no sense in risking setting him back any further until everybody can come to a decision on what role he is going to be used in and then stick with that decision.