Joba Chamberlain thinks he can start

A couple of years back one of the hottest controversies around was whether Joba Chamberlain should be a starter or a reliever. The thinking of many was that he had amazing stuff and a history of starting in the minors so why not make him a starter? Others, enamored with his initial callup as a lights-out reliever in 2007 thought that you had to make him a reliever and maybe, eventually, the heir to Mariano Rivera’s job as closer.

The Yankees went back and forth on the matter. Which is a nice way of saying Chamberlain was jerked around. Eventually, however, injuries and inconsistency left him in the pen, seemingly to stay. And seemingly to everyone’s contentment.

But maybe not Chamberlain’s. Because today he told Mark Feinsand of the Daily News that he would like to start:

“This is probably going to spark a bunch of stuff and (Yankees PR director Jason) Zillo is going to be mad at me, but it’s one of those things where it’s like, do you think you have the capability to start? Yes. Do I have four pitches that I can throw for a strike? Yes. Do I have two plus pitches in the bullpen that I can throw at any time? Yes.

Chamberlain says he feel he can start and that he could do it “somewhere -- wherever that’s at.” Which you figure is a signal to teams who may be interested when he hits free agency after this season.

This being the Yankees this will likely cause a stir for a couple of days.