There sure is plenty of blame and finger-pointing to go around regarding Joba’s performance the last several weeks. Blame the front office and manager for the seemingly fluid “Joba Rules”. Blame Joba himself for not pitching well and even worse, “He needs to declare himself,”general manager Brian Cashman said. “He’s no different than anyone else.”
Outside of the obvious players, Cashman said there were no guarantees about a number of postseason roster spots. And with a bloated 8.42 ERA over his last eight starts, Chamberlain has put his division series status in jeopardy.
“Everybody loves his tenacity,” Cashman said by phone Monday, with the Yankees’ magic number for clinching a postseason spot down to one. “But we’re going to take the best 10 guys. There’s no assumptions there.”
Is Joba not fully invested in his own “Joba Rules”? Is he lacking the tenacity because he knows he wasn’t going to be in long enough to get the win?
“Chamberlain didn’t like being on extra rest, and he didn’t respond well to it,” Cashman said. Now, “He’s in his routine. He just needs to be better.”
Bottom line, it’s time for Joba to step up HUGE and be as good as we all hope he can be. Because if we have to rely on Chad Gaudin as our 4th starter in the playoffs, that’s not a good sign.
