Chamberlain to start in bullpen

The Yankees plan to play it extra safe with Joba Chamberlain, using him as Mo's setup man in April, transitioning him back to AAA mid-season to prepare him as a starter, and then bringing him into the rotation in July. It's actually an excellent idea; the big concern that Yankees fans had was that his arm would blow out midseason, resulting in long-term injury. At least this way he'll slowly be worked into his major league role. However, I'm wary of plans suddenly changing. Phil Hughes was not supposed to leave AAA in 2007, but as soon as things got impossibly rough there was no hesitation to speed up his growth. Also, we saw how the management slowly hacked away at the Joba Rules last season--will these new decrees face a similar fate? Hopefully not, but we'll have to see where things stand as soon as Spring Training kicks into full swing.

Assuming that holds up, we'll have an initial rotation of Pettitte, Wang, Kennedy, Hughes, and Mussina. Not too shabby at all (with the exception of the anchor...man do I hope he stays together). It will definitely be able to compete with a Schilling-less Red Sox team. My main fear is still the bullpen, but you can journey back to early January to reread my thoughts on that topic.

Legends Field opens in just under two days. MLB 2008 is on its way!