Although the question seems to be answered by the Yankees, I’m still not sure if Joba Chamberlain should be starting this season over dominating out of the bull pen. I don’t know if it’s because the 5 time all-star 4 time World Series champion Jorge Posada has spoken publicly against the idea or the fact that Joba has looked mediocre this spring despite his two victories.

This has been the topic of great debate for Yankee fans nation wide and no one has a definitive answer. I’ve had this argument with numerous friends for countless hours and have taken both sides. In the end I tend to lean more toward him coming out of the bullpen rather than him being babied through starts. But I’m not saying I don’t like the idea of giving him a shot at being an all-star starter either. If Girardi could convince me that Chamberlain wasn’t going to be on a strict pitch count for the first few months of the season then maybe I could get behind the idea.

The possibilities are nearly erotic they’re so good. Joba could be a dominant ace that blows people away with his fastball and breaks wrists with his tearing slider. He could rack up 20 win season after 20 win season, keep his ERA at 3.00 or lower and lead us to another grouping of World Series championships. He could be a Red Sock killer (That bald headed freak with the obnoxious batting stance and WWE facial hair already poops his pants when he’s in the box; his over zealous bat-wiggles turn into trembles, (he’s such a tough guy from the dugout) and I love it) or a post season craftsmen chalking up W’s like El Duque. I’m salivating just thinking about it.

But then there’s the other side. He’s never pitched a full season as a starter and he was closely monitored to a point way beyond annoyance all last season. He throws a lot of balls and seems to find himself with too many base runners on early in the game too often. But what weighs loads heavier than the negatives of his possible outcome as a true starter are the positives of him coming out of the bullpen. He displayed promise two years ago as an 8^th inning man psyching up the crowd and man handling opposing batters handing off the game and setting up the save for MO very nicely; reminiscent of the Jeff Nelson days or of ’96 when MO was our 8^th inning man. He would be an explosive, invaluable tool coming out of the pen and setting up for MO, kicking a slimmer Bruney to an earlier slot giving us more confidence to go to the pen early when needed. The security of him coming out of the bullpen is not something that should go unnoted.

On the other hand, the value of a strong bull pen pitcher is no where near the bling of a 20 win intimidating starter. Not to mention Joba hasn’t really been given a true chance to shine as a starter and, as a close friend of mine who’s a great baseball/Yankee fan pointed out, our bullpen was pretty solid last year and hasn’t changed all that much. With the security of last year’s more than decent bull pen and with MO feeling like MO why not give him a shot as a starter?

Let us also remember that the two time Cy Young award winner Johan Santana started out in the bullpen before transitioning into the starter he is today. He had two years in the pen in ’00 and ’01 and had a 6.49era and a 4.74era respectively. It wasn’t until after he started only 14 games in ’02 and only 18 games in ’03 that he went on to win the AL Cy Young in ’04 and become one of the most sought after left-handed pitchers in recent memory. Am I saying that Joba will go on to win the Cy Young in 2010 if we let him pitch this season? No, but that doesn’t mean if we put him in the bullpen he’ll be the next Mariano Rivera either.

Although I’m shaky on the subject I’d like to see him start this season as a Starter. He has a lot of great arms in front of him in the rotation and a few veterans to help him along the way. I like to be optimistic and say give it a shot. However, I don’t want to see him continue to try if he fails, frustrating the fans as he turns himself into a dead horse either. If they’re going to let him try then they have to listen to the great Yankee announcer Jim Kaat and just let him pitch. They can’t take him out after 65 pitches and hold his hand through the first three months of the season. If he’s going to be a starting pitcher then he has to pitch like one and not like a middle reliever filling in for an injured starter.

If he continues to look like he has this spring (I know he pitched well against the defending champs but let’s not kid ourselves into believing they were playing the real Phillies and let us also not ignore the hit batsman or the 21 balls out of 48 pitches he threw) then I think we may want to keep an eye on Hughes who has looked better than he normally does this spring and to be honest better than Joba has.

Hughes has looked sharp in three outings this spring keeping his ERA bellow 2.50 (which is more than Joba, CC or Wang can say) and may be able to shake of his dismal ’08 season. But before I start to sound too crazy I’ll remind myself it’s only spring training and hope that Girardi knows what he’s doing.

Joba could be a franchise starter, lord knows the fans are ready, and he could be the 20 win, Red Sock killer, world series champion we’re all looking for or he could just be an 8^th inning relief pitcher playing the wrong position. I’ll root for him as a starter but I’ll have my fingers crossed and keep the money in my wallet until August.