Yankees plan Joba's next step

Joba Chamberlain is the real deal. The foundation of the Yankees future, here's a few links to clarify his immediate future:

• "Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner expects hard-throwing Joba Chamberlain to pitch again this season. Whether it's as a starter or out of the bullpen will be determined.
  "I don't know yet," Steinbrenner said. "It's up to (manager Joe) Girardi and (pitching coach Dave) Eiland, how they want to do it."
  "They know what they're doing, and the doctors obviously know."
• "when he gets back into games for the Yankees, it may be as a reliever at first."We've always thought of him as a starter," manager Joe Girardi said Friday. "That's how I still think of him."There's not a lot of time to build up, so we might have to be creative how we build him up. ... We're not exactly sure how we're going to do it."
• "Your guess is as good as mine in terms of when Chamberlain could pitch in the majors. But if he’s coming back as a starter (which seems to be the case) we’re talking at least two weeks to get his arm strong enough. So that’s sometime in the second week of September at the earliest."
• "It seems the tendonitis resulted from overuse, likely from the transition of relieving to starting."

Here's what should happen: Joba's next appearance on a mound will be in spring training 2009. He will be a starter from day one. This is one decision the Bombers' Brass can't afford to screw up.