Joba & IPK To Fall League?
September 17, 2008, 2:29 pmFrom Joel Sherman (NY Post):
The Yankees are strongly weighing sending Joba Chamberlain to some form of extra pitching — likely either the Arizona Fall League or the Instructional League — as a way to further build his inning load this season to better prepare him to start in 2009, Hardball has learned.
The Yanks already have determined they will have Phil Hughes go to the AFL and are leaning toward doing the same with Ian Kennedy. But the most interesting case, as always around the Yanks, belongs to Chamberlain and his valuable right arm.
The Yankees have to be slightly more careful with Joba than with IPK or Phil Hughes. As Sherman notes, he’s gone from the bullpen to the rotation this year, has been on the DL for a lengthy period of time only to participate in a brief rehab stint and now he has returned to the bullpen. He’s pretty much been all over the place and his arm needs to be taken care of in light of his year.
He’s still very young, he’s got a lot of mileage left in him. He’ll do whatever NY wants him to do to stay healthy, stay on top of his game, and more importantly, that on the most prestigious roster in MLB.
[...] note, the Yankees have rounded out their Arizona Fall League squad and Joba Chamberlain will not be a part of that group. Instead, Juan Miranda and Kevin Whelan have secured the final 2 roster [...]