Joba headed to Tampa, thinks CC is great

Christian Abraham/Staff Photographer

Earlier today, PA stopped by Sacred Heart University (Fairfield, CT) and had the opportunity to see Joba Chamberlain and Jon Lester participate in a Q & A. When asked about starting, Joba said he has been preparing to be a starter and will head to Tampa tomorrow. He also said that he dined with CC Sabathia in December and thinks he is a “tremendous guy” (he’s an OK pitcher, too).

You can read more on the SHU appearance, here.

Joe Torre speaks

Joe Torre spoke with Jack Curry (NY Times) about the recent controversy regarding he and Tom Verducci’s book, The Yankee Years. In it, Torre manages to tap dance around all of the questions and doesn’t provide much in the form of an apology. Instead, in the end he manages to cast himself as the victim:

“I’m comfortable with what I contributed to the book,” Torre said, “even though I’m probably going to get more credit or more blame than I deserve, whichever way you want to look at it.”

Don’t worry about the “credit” part, Joe. Now, in terms of “blame,” that’s a different story.

(props to SIH)

Optimism or concern?

Should we be optimistic or concerned about Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada? Both are coming off of shoulder surgeries, although Posada’s was significantly more serious than Mo’s, and many wonder what to expect in 2009 (I’m not too worried). Bryan Hoch’s latest says that the Yankees are optimistic regarding the two, however, he quotes a less than optimistic Brian Cashman. In fact, Cashman seems very concerned, actually. Of course, concern is warranted because they’re important players, but a healthy dose of optimism wouldn’t have hurt.

Wrong is Wright

Chase Wright has been DFA’d to make room for Andy Pettitte.

Argh, Kevin Kernan…

Double “Argh,” even…

From Kevin Kernan (NY Post via FOX Sports):

With a top three of Sabathia, Burnett and Wang, and with Pettitte on the back end, Joba is most needed in the bullpen now, especially since Mariano Rivera is coming off shoulder surgery.

This way the Yankees can keep Joba’s innings under control, and if Rivera needs a little extra time to be ready for the season, Chamberlain can be the emergency closer. If Rivera is right for the start of the season, then Chamberlain has the eighth inning and the Yankees are that much more of a force.

An eighth-inning dynamo is much more important to the Yankees now than a back-end starter. And besides, the Yankees have candidates for that fifth spot, including Phil Hughes and Alfredo Aceves.

Wait a minute… what?

So an “eighth-inning dynamo is much more important to the Yankees” than “a back-end starter.” Hmmm, when the Red Sox have Brad Penny and possibly John Smoltz in the back-end of their rotation, is that really true? How about David Price rounding out the Tampa Bay rotation (hey, he was a late-inning guy for a few games last year, why not keep him in the ‘pen!). In the AL East, the roughest, toughest division in baseball, wouldn’t you want your best pitchers in the rotation where they have plenty of opportunities to dominate?

A-Rod not bothered by Torre’s comments

From John Harper (Daily News):

Alex Rodriguez told friends Monday that he is “not bothered at all” by the reports that Joe Torre apparently took some shots at him in his forthcoming book, and dismissed talk of an “A-Fraud” persona or any Derek Jeter obsession as old news that no longer applies to his standing in the Yankee clubhouse.

“He laughed at the stuff because he is so beyond all of that,” one person close to A-Rod said Monday. “Personally he feels like he’s in a great space in his life and felt very comfortable last year in the clubhouse and with his relationship with his teammates.”

As for Torre, A-Rod indicated that anything his former manager may say about him couldn’t hurt him because, as one friend put it, “He doesn’t feel like he had any real relationship with (Torre).”

In fact, people close to A-Rod say that he heard Torre characterized him as “a pretty boy” to his confidants during the four years they were together as player and manager, that Torre’s close relationship with Jeter kept him from ever warming up to A-Rod.

A-Rod also told people that nothing Torre could say would be more revealing of how he felt about his player than the act of batting him eighth in the lineup in Game 4 of the 2006 playoff series with the Tigers.

“Alex was really hurt by that,” one friend of A-Rod’s said Monday. “He believed that Torre did that to embarrass him and he knew then what Torre thought of him.

“So anything that comes out now wouldn’t compare to that. He’s just surprised that Torre would talk about these kinds of things because he always told the players the clubhouse and the bond with teammates was sacred, and not to be broken this way.”

Most importantly, according to people close to A-Rod, is that he insists he doesn’t worry about this type of stuff, what people are saying and thinking about him, the way he did when he joined the Yankees in 2004.

“He says he got the Jeter stuff out of his system when he had that press conference (at the start of spring training) a couple of years ago,” one person said. “He came to grips with the idea that Jeter didn’t want to be his friend again the way they were years ago, and he stopped worrying about it.

“He’s heard the A-Fraud stuff, and he has admitted he tried too hard to make everyone like him when he came over to the Yankees. But since then he has become more at ease in the clubhouse, and he believes he is more accepted as one of the guys. He has taken the young Latin guys like Melky (Cabrera) and (Robinson) Cano under his wing and they really look up to him. He believes things are a lot different now.”

A former Yankee teammate of A-Rod’s agreed with that assessment Monday night.

“He did come off as a phony when he first came over,” the player said, “and I’m not sure he’ll ever be one of the boys, but he did seem to relax and stop being ‘on’ all the time after the first year or two.

“I do think he was different after he went public and said he and Jeter weren’t buddies. He seemed more comfortable in the clubhouse after that, and as new players came in, I think more guys warmed up to him.”

I think the onus of this situation cannot be on A-Rod. As Buster Olney notes, Joe Torre has done wrong here, not Alex. Joe Torre has broken his vow of taking the high road, not Alex. Alex Rodriguez tried too hard and came off as a disenguous person because of that. He’s clearly insecure, but that’s not really a big deal, is it? At the end of the day, A-Rod is with the Yankees and will be with them for a long time. Conversely, Joe Torre is no longer a Yankee. If I were to choose sides, I think the choice itself is clear.

Torre items

Real quick:

1. Some may think that Joe Torre has earned the right to openly discuss the Yankees and air their dirty laundry for a profit, however, I have to strongly disagree. Despite a sour ending, the Yankees gave a lot to Joe Torre and he should have kept his mouth shut. That may sound disrespectful but you can’t deny that what he has written about Cashman, in particular, hurts the Yankees’ image (even if he smoothed it over via telephone).

One thing I found in the Times article on Cashman that was especially funny is that Torre was angered by Cashman’s supposed dislike of Ron Guidry, not as a person but as a pitching coach. Cashman should be commended, though, since Gator was just not good in that role. Also hilarious was the admission that Cashman offered “odd lineup suggestions based on stats.” Now, were they really odd or were they odd to Torre because they were based on stats? Hmm, I don’t know…

2. Speaking of Brian Cashman, he thinks the team should rally in support of Alex Rodriguez. Honestly, that’s a dumb comment to make. Just let the players brush it off and keep it moving.

3. An intriguing aspect of Torre/Verducci’s book that has yet to be discussed much is Torre’s account of guys like Pavano, Johnson and Jeff Weaver. Jack Curry writes on that, here. Curry also posted a scathing excerpt on Alex Rodriguez:

Torre added that he could relate to Rodriguez because, like Rodriguez, he was the type of player who tied his self-esteem to what he did on the field.

“It feels like that’s what’s going on with him,” Torre said. “He could never walk away from this game and, all of a sudden, have people talk about somebody else. Jeter could just disappear and go sit on a beach somewhere and not be bothered.”

Torre called Rodriguez’s behavior “sad,” adding that it took him a long time to feel that he did not let people down when he had a lousy game.

“With Alex, it’s a lot different because he will conjure up in his mind that it wasn’t that way,” Torre said. “He’ll disappear into his dream world and reason with himself.”

“But Alex is all about the game,” Torre continued. “He needs the game. He needs all of those statistics. He needs every record imaginable. And he needs people to make a fuss over him. And he’s always going to put up numbers because he’s too good. It means a lot to him, and good for him.”

You can put a pink bow on the end of it, but it’s still negative Joe.

Andy’s incentives

From the AP/PA:

Base salary: $5.5 million.

Innings bonuses: $500,000 each for 150, 160 and 170 innings pitched and $750,000 each for 180, 190, 200 and 210 innings.

Roster bonuses: $100,000 for 120 days on the active 25-man roster, $200,000 for 130 days, $250,000 each for 140 and 150 days, and $400,000 each for 160, 170 and 180 days.

Just eat innings and collect checks, Andy. That’s all.