According to Joel Sherman, Phil Hughes gets the nod as the number five starter for the Yankees. If true, this also seems to indicate that Joba as setup man and future closer is a permanent move. We’ll know that’s true if a starter gets injured and Chamberlain stays in the pen. I think it’s a waste of Joba’s potential to limit him to 60 to 70 innings a year. However, having Joba and Rivera back to back in the pen does certainly shorten the game, and allows the starters not to worry about pitching more than seven innings.

I’m not sure how they are going to handle Hughes inning limitations. That’s why I thought Joba would get fifth starter status, and Hughes would move back and forth from pen to rotation based on injuries.

I would have liked to have seen a four-man rotation, with Hughes and Chamberlain taking turns in long relief to keep starters innings down. The Yankees could have gotten by with a nine-man pitching staff, and brought in an extra glove or two.