IS JOBA CHAMBERLAIN BEING UNFAIRLY ATTACKED?

I like Joel Sherman of the New York Post, but sometimes he pushes buttons with Yankee players and it confuses me.  Maybe that’s just me not understanding his beat.  I know these Yankee writers need to follow the teams and maybe cause alittle controversy in the process, but sometimes I feel like he just comes off as downright mean.  Obviously he must be doing his job… I read him every day.

I like Joba Chamberlain of the New York Yankees, but I feel like it’s been quite a while since he truly dominated and, much like the New York Yankees, I may also feel like the marriage between the 2 parties may quickly be coming to an end.  That’s why Joba made his statement the other day about being a starter or closer one day, read HERE… Maybe he's starting the "Joba Farewell tour" early to get teams to perk up, just in case he has a great season.


But Joel Sherman and Joba Chamberlain together this week? Not so sure that works… Can 2 men share a season together, without driving each other crazy? It’s like the old Odd Couple show...loosely based of course.  The fact of the matter is, I wasn’t too jazzed about Serhman’s piece from February 28^th where he literally undressed Joba for being immature and a bunch of other stuff, read HERE.  He wrote:

"The Yankees have Joba Fatigue. I think they see him as a constant risk physically and verbally, and they will try to drain 60-70 high-level appearances out of him in 2013 then let all the drama that has played around this pitcher exit through free agency."

"I think Chamberlain was a physical red flag no matter how he was deployed, that he never was going to have the consistency in personality or performance to thrive at any one specific role and that his immature nature always was going to be tempted by the trampolines of life."

Now, truth be told. Joba has had his bad moments… maybe more bad than good, but no one needs public humiliation like that. In my opinion it's unfair, especially if your job is the cover the New York Yankees.  I would even go as far as to suggest the Yankees may want to ask Joel to NOT drop by the clubhouse for a few days, unless of course they wanted that story out there. Who really knows.  

Look, I get it... there are guys out there that are critical, but not rotten, just to the point.  Bob Klapisch,  Ken Davidoff, Marc Carig, I could go on, but you get the idea. What does it gain when you dress down a Yankee for antics that happened a year ago.  Sherman actually brought up the trampoline incident again.  Really? Haven’t we gotten past that?

Now sure, Joba started all of this with his “I want to be a starter or closer one day”, but it’s not like he went off about Yankee brass publicly or it's not like he punched David Aardsma in the shower or something. There was no controversy here, it was a statement and suddenly the New York Media blew it up like it was the second coming of Jesus.  It wasn’t.  

What it was, was a statement from a man who had to re-climb all the obstacles he put in front of himself in the first place, and now, with his Ron Jeremy mustache, Joba Chamberlain feels like he’s ready to fly.  You can’t fault him for that.  My point is, everything in the past is past.  It’s 2013.

Much respect to both guys.  Again, I dig Sherman, but he’s got a knack for sometimes pissing off a lot of Yankee fans with hollow controversy.  Joba, yeah, he’s gotta knack for frustrating us Yankee fans too… maybe their not such an odd couple after all.  

I will say this though, if we’re getting pieces like this from Sherman in February, I can’t wait until Joba walks 3 in a row during a Red Sox game in August.  I cringe to even think about it.

Please comment, we have DISQUS, it's easier than ever. Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.