Steinbrenner to world: Joba Chamberlain belongs in the rotation!

If there was ever any doubt, let's put it to rest now: Hank Steinbrenner is a chip off the old block.

Steinbrenner made headlines again yesterday, announcing that it was time for Joba Chamberlain to enter the starting rotation.

"I want him as a starter and so does everyone else, including him, and that is what we are working toward and we need him there now," Steinbrenner told the New York Times. "There is no question about it, you don't have a guy with a 100-mile-per-hour fastball and keep him as a set-up guy. You just don't do that. You have to be an idiot to do that."

There are two problems with the statement. First, Steinbrenner is wrong. The Yankees have an assigned Chamberlain an innings limit, and if they plugged him into the rotation now, they would have to shut him down come September. No one, except maybe the Red Sox, wants that.

But even if he was right -- blind squirrels have been known to stumble upon the odd acorn -- Steinbrenner isn't in charge of personnel decisions. His job is to help supply the cash, steer the team in a general direction, and keep his nose out of Brian Cashman's and Joe Girardi's business.

Cashman, for his part, held his ground and diffused the potentially tense situation.

"Joba's staying in the bullpen right now," Cashman told Newsday. "That's where we're at. [Putting him in the rotation is] not something that's going to happen here early on, and [Hank] knows that. We've talked about it. I don't know what set him off."

Well said, Cashman. You can tell the man has dealt with Steinbrenners before. Girardi, though, has to be scratching his head right about now. What was so bad about the Orioles' job again?

Hank wants Joba to start (Newsday)
Chamberlain will start, later than sooner (NY Times)