Hank Backs Down...For Now

One day after insisting that Joba Chamberlain become part of the starting rotation immediately, Hank Steinbrenner backed off those statements a little bit.

"We're 10-10, big deal," Steinbrenner told the Daily News in a telephone interview Monday. "None of the favorites are doing well right now, or at least nothing special.

"It's early in the season. We'll be fine."

"It's all of our intention to try to get (Chamberlain) back into the rotation by the end of the year," Steinbrenner told The News. "I've addressed it many times, as did Joe (Girardi) and (GM Brian) Cashman. I'm just saying it would be nice to have him there right now. He's going to be great anywhere we have him but, my preference is as a starter and that's everybody else's preference, too.

"You see what a premium starting pitching is. The bullpen is important, but starting pitching is 70% of it. Your bullpen can't do you any good if you're down by five runs quickly every night. It's logical."

Steinbrenner's statements came on the heels of GM Brian Cashman's batting down of Stein Jr.'s semi-rant on Sunday night.

"Joba is a starter, but the time and place for him right now is to be in the bullpen," Cashman said.

Cashman insisted there is no disconnect between owner and GM. "I think Hank and everybody, we're all on the same page," Cashman said. "These are things we discuss internally all the time and we'll continue to do so, it's as simple as that.

"I don't believe Hank wants Joba in the rotation Monday. I think he wants what we all want."

Joba Chamberlain was set to be a regular guest on Michael Kay's radio show, but Cashman shot it down during spring training, insisting that no players would be doing individual regular interviews like that. So Kay got Mets closer Billy Wagner instead. Yesterday, Wagner told the Daily News' John Harper the Yankees should leave Joba be.

"The Joba thing, to me, there's no question about where he should be," Wagner said. "He's in the pen and that's where he should stay. He's dominating out there, so you want him comfortable, just doing what he's doing.

"You don't want him thinking, 'Well, if I'm going to be starting (at some point), do I need to work on my other pitches to keep that stuff sharp?' You don't want to give him anything that might have him wondering, 'What do I do?' You don't want to put anything in his head except getting those three outs in the eighth inning."

This is only the beginning.