The Loudest Yankee

Yesterday, Marc Carig of the Newark Star-Ledger referred to A-Rod as the "Quietest Yankee" so his relatively humble campaign and effort to evade the spotlight, something which he has failed miserably at doing ever since he became a Yankee. Carig relayed the fact that A-Rod has limited his interview sessions in the clubhouse to 3 minutes and been more willing to accept walks from pitchers.

This made me think of the guy who has been sort of the opposite of that for the Yanks this year. The one who draws more media attention, hype and debate than his performance would indicate. The guy who, if he was a 30 year old journeyman with the same stat line, wouldn't merit much attention. The dude whose innings management generates enough keystrokes to fill 1,000 bibles.

I'm of course talking about Joba Chamberlain. It's not that Joba is loud persay, but I think we can agree that he inspires a lot of other people make a whole lot of noise on his behalf.

Well, yesterday Joba made the Yankees task of choosing 25 players for the ALDS roster a little more difficult with only 7 pitches.

The rational fan in all of us attempts not to be swayed by one inning of work in a meaningless game. But the nostalgic, overly optimistic one can't help but to be taken back to Joba's dominant days of late 2007, lighting up the radar gun and setting the Bronx on fire coming out of the 'pen.

Which ever decision the Yanks make, I don't think we have much of a right to complain. If Joba makes the ALDS roster, he'll likely be called upon to get some important outs and there's a pretty good chance he'll get them. But he might bump out Chad Gaudin or an extra position player in the process. If not, he'll get some work in down in Tampa and likely be added for the ALCS if the Yanks take care of business against the winner of the AL Central.

Cashman and Girardi gave him the opportunity to pitch that one inning yesterday and Joba passed that test with flying colors, even if it was only three questions long. How much more could they have expected? Why give the guy one inning if you're not going to take it into consideration? As always, the upside with Joba is tantalizing.

What's the right move here, Fackers? A separate consideration: What do you think the Yanks are going to do? Your guess is as good as mine.