Joba Believes He Will Start Year in Pen

And he plans to meet with Joe Girardi and pitching coach Dave Eiland on Wednesday to discuss his role.

From Bryan Hoch:

TAMPA, Fla. -- With less than two weeks remaining before the Yankees break camp, Joba Chamberlain believes that he will begin the year in New York's bullpen.

The 22-year-old right-hander has prepared during Spring Training as a starting pitcher, and the Yankees have not reached a final decision. But with five healthy hurlers primed for the rotation, Chamberlain has surmised that his role will be in relief.

"You stretch your innings out and you go from five or six [innings] to one or two, and it's a little bit easier to go that way," Chamberlain said. "It's good. My arm strength is good, and I felt loose in my last outing. I'm looking forward to getting to New York."

Chamberlain said that he plans to meet with Yankees manager Joe Girardi and the club's coaching staff on Wednesday, following the team's trip on Tuesday to play an exhibition game at Virginia Tech University.

"They've been great, so I can't complain about not knowing anything," Chamberlain said. "We're getting close to crunch time and the beginning of the season. Physically it's hard, but mentally, it's a little bit harder. Just to have that idea of what the plan is will be good."

Later in the article Hoch mentions that Joba believes it will be harder for him to go from starting to relieving. "We'll cross that bridge if it comes," Chamberlain said. "It's one of those things you can say, but until you're put in that situation, you don't know. I think if that comes about, we'll have to sit down and talk about it, but right now we'll just take it one day at a time."

I've said for a while that I feel going from reliever to starter is a mistake, and having him spend three to four weeks in the minor leagues is a waste. Either start him in the rotation, leave him there for a little more than half the season, and then sending him to the pen, or just leave him in the pen all year, making sure to somehow get him enough innings along the way so he can be a full-time stater in 2009.

For more on Joba's role check out this article from Sweeny Murti's blog.