Joba likely to be called up within a week

[jacksonianmarch]

http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18650342&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=418202&rfi=6

The Yankees start a series on Monday in Toronto. I will explain how this play into things.

They are sending Joba back to NYC to get a passport. Now when he was in the minors, they travelled by bus, and no passport was needed to get into Canada. But the big club flies into Toronto and a passport or proof of a passport application is needed to fly into and out of Canada. Hence, they are having him apply, then will likely demote him to AA so he can pitch in the area (Binghamton, about 3 hours north) and then most likely will be ready for departure to Toronto to start his major league career.

[jacksonianmarch]

This article actually sums up my feeling on this deal and with the idea that Joba will be up with the yankees any time soon.


http://www.nj.com/columns/ledger/graziano/....xml&coll=1

NEW YORK--The trade deadline has passed, and the Yankees' only move was to deal away a relief pitcher, weakening the weakest part of their team. So it appears their biggest acquisition for the final two months of this season will be Joba Chamberlain, the fast-rising fireballer who's due up with the big-league club any day now for his assignment as a badly needed late-inning relief pitcher.

That means Chamberlain had better be darn good.



But it also means Joe Torre had better use him. Because if he doesn't, it could be one of Torre's last mistakes as Yankees manager.

The impending promotion of Chamberlain is a huge test for Torre at a time when his position in the organization is as tenuous as it's ever been. He is not, traditionally, good at trusting young relief pitchers. And the Yankees front office wouldn't be promoting Chamberlain if they didn't want him to be used in key spots. Their hope is that Chamberlain's 98-mile-per-hour fastball and vanishing slider will be good enough -- and strange enough to opponents -- to overcome his youth and lack of experience. But if Torre doesn't put the front office's plan into action, he could find himself without any backers in the organization when this year is over and his contract is up.

"I'm a part of this organization," Torre said last night. "If (Chamberlain) is good enough to be chosen to fill a role like that, obviously a lot of people in the organization feel the same way about him. And I have to be one of those people."

Torre was playing the company man, speaking hypothetically about a call-up that hasn't yet happened and insisting that he would, indeed, use Chamberlain if the young man were added to his bullpen.

But some in the organization are skeptical. Torre has frustrated people in the front office with his loyalty to slumping veterans and his refusal to use the players (Shelley Duncan, Edwar Ramirez, Andy Phillips when he first came up) they have promoted from their system. He voiced strong opposition to proposed deals for outfielder Milton Bradley and infielder Morgan Ensberg -- deals the Yankees eventually turned down in part because they believed those players would just rot on the bench. Duncan, who was a budding cult hero at Yankee Stadium a week and a half ago, played in just two games on the road trip that followed his big-splash debut weekend.

So as the Yankees mulled different available bench players in advance of the deadline, the common off-the-record refrain from Yankees officials was "our manager won't play him anyway."

It's just about impossible to find somebody in the Yankee organization who thinks Torre will be managing the team in 2008. He's a sure bet to finish out this season, but plans are in the works to replace him with Joe Girardi, Don Mattingly, Bobby Valentine or somebody else when it's over. And that feeling has made complaining about Torre a popular pastime around the team.

"All the people who used to ride with him in his Mercedes," said one team official, who requested anonymity because he was discussing such a sensitive topic, "are spitting on it now."

It may be impossible for Torre to do anything to rescue his chances of managing the Yankees beyond this year. It may well be that he's gone no matter what -- that even a World Series title can't save him. But if that's the case, it's still not too late for him to surprise everybody and find a way to put the team's plan into place once Chamberlain comes up. And if he does that, he might still be able to save this Yankees season.

Torre said he would certainly break in Chamberlain in a no-pressure situation -- a lopsided game one way or the other -- so as to minimize the intensity of his much-anticipated debut. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's what happens after that that has everybody concerned.

Given Torre's track record with pitchers who've never helped him win playoff games, Chamberlain's season is likely to go one of two ways. If he pitches well in his first couple of games, Torre will overuse him. And if he doesn't, Torre will never call his number again. That's the manager's pattern with young, untested players, though he insists he'd make an exception if the kid is all they say he is.

"I've always said I make an exception if you have someone who has extraordinary ability," Torre said.

In this case, if he doesn't, it could be bad news for the Yankees, bad news for Chamberlain and the end of the road for Torre as Yankees manager.

Dan Graziano may be reached at dgraziano@starledger.com.

[26 to 6]

Time to just wait and see I guess.

[das11209]

From Newsday - will not allow me to post link.Joba's dad has concerns about him being a reliever. Who could blame him - he is replacing Proctor in Torre's pen.

Father has concerns about Joba's move to pen
Harlan Chamberlain worries about the effect on his 21-year-old son's arm

Jim Baumbach
5:30 PM EDT, August 1, 2007
Article Tools
E-mail Print Single page view Reprints Reader feedback text size: With top Yankee pitching prospect Joba Chamberlain in the process of converting to be a reliever so he can join the major-league bullpen, you would expect nothing but excitement at the Chamberlain house in Lincoln, Neb.

And make no mistake Harlan Chamberlain, Joba's father, is happy for his son. But he was rather quick to admit in a telephone interview earlier this afternoon that he has some health reservations about his 21-year-old son pitching out of the bullpen at this stage of his blossoming career.

"Yeah, it's exciting, but, I guess, my concerns at this time are more for the safety of his arm and what this does to his arm," Harlan said. "So I kind of feel like the jury's out for me right now. His personal welfare from a parent's perspective overshadows the baseball perspective."

[yankees228]

Joba has been called up and will be be activated before tomorrow's game. No word yet on who is going to be sent down.

yankees.lohudblogs.com

[Mr Crunchy]

his dad oughta mind his manners and remember his kid is playing baseball for money and for the yankees for chrissakes
this is what insurance policies are for

[BudLight]

Chamberlain will be called up for tonight's game. Karstens sent back down.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2007/08/07/2007-08-07_joba_to_arrive_in_yankee_hut-1.html

[He Hate Me]

Chamberlain will be called up for tonight's game. Karstens sent back down.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2007/08/07/2007-08-07_joba_to_arrive_in_yankee_hut-1.html

ugh Fransworth should be sent down instead.

[Gom]

Farnsworth should be drawn and quartered.

[He Hate Me]

Farnsworth should be drawn and quartered.

I think poetic justice would be sending him down to the minors and forcing him to WALK to Staten Island.

[yankees228]

It actually appears that Karstens is staying, which makes sense. In blowouts, Mike Myers was serving as the long man, and now he is gone. Instead it looks like it's Bruney. I've never been a Bruney fan, but he was improving a bit after changing to the wind-up with nobody on-base. However, he was still struggling. Maybe he solves his control issues in AAA, and can be a factor in September, or (more likely) next year.