1. In today’s Post, I wrote about the plan to switch Joba Chamberlain into a starter. The biggest reason that the Yankees are transforming Chamberlain from a late-inning reliever to a starter is that their internal scouting strongly suggests that he can grow into a top-of-the-rotation stalwart. But there is another reason why they are doing it now, during the season: If they don’t commit to this at some point this year, when do they do it? The Yanks strongly believe that for pitchers 25 and under the proper (safe) way to progress is to add 25-30 innings to their workload annually en route to reaching the 200-inning mark. Chamberlain, therefore, is allowed to get to about 140 innings this year. If the Yanks keep Chamberlain in the bullpen all year and, therefore, restrain him to about 80-100 innings, they are back to square one again next year in building him to be a starter. They would again be faced with trying to figure how to use him in the rotation and also keep him in the 130-inning range. Which would probably mean beginning with him in the bullpen again with the idea of transitioning during the year. But Chamberlain, of course, would be good in the pen again and you would be fighting the same fight. It would be an endless cycle. So if the Yanks truly believe what they believe they had to take the dive into the deep end of the pool at some point. Now is that point in their minds.
2. I continue to believe the proper move was to keep Chamberlain in the pen. I believe he can impact more games in that role. But I also believe that he was being used improperly. I have written about this before and so I will just quickly restate my case: I think a good share of relievers who get hurt from abuse are those that pitch in 80-100 games and are up and down in a bunch of other cases and not used. I think frequency of pitching is the devil. But I think you could use Chamberlain to work in say 65 games and cover 120 innings. In other words, use him often for both the seventh and eighth when the Yankees lead and, therefore, often remove the shaky middleman from the equation. You do six-inning start, Chamberlain for two innings, Mariano Rivera for one. That formula would, I believe, give the Yankees an incredibly high percentage of wins in games that Chamberlain appeared while also building him to 120 innings. That would position him better to be a 150-inning starter next year, if the Yanks so desired.
3. I also wrote about Willie Randolph’s plight into today’s Post. Met officials have indicated that the Wilpons do not want to eat the last year of Randolph’s managerial contract, that they do not want to embarrass him with a firing before he returns to Yankee Stadium as an All-Star Game coach and that they are unsure if they have the right replacement to motivate a difference in the roster. But if the losing persists none of that is going to protect Randolph, even in the short term. Jeff Wilpon, in particular, has never been overly fond of Randolph and his patience for the manager and the way events are transpiring for the team is just about on empty. A feeling is growing in the organization that change for the sake of change might be necessary; that is how much the main executives are coming to believe that Randolph cannot reach these players and that a new voice might be worthwhile to save the season. Johan Santana was due to go Thursday night before the Mets headed to Colorado. It would be a good idea for the Mets to win at least two of these four games, that is if they want to improve the odds of having the same manager when their next homestand begins.