The great mistake.

I have a lot to say about baseball... always.

I am fascinated by the game and my love for the sport grows with each passing year.

This week, the Yankees made what will turn out to be one of the most disastrous decisions of the last several years and one that could well impact the team for years to come.

This past week, the Yankees decided to begin the process of moving Joba Chamberlain to the starting rotation:

It was not a tough decision for the 22-year-old pitcher, whose role has been the subject of debate since he came up to the majors last August.

“We sat down and talked and I said I’d rather be out there and competing for eight innings rather than one inning,” Chamberlain said of the Tuesday afternoon meeting that included Girardi, general manager Brian Cashman and pitching coach Dave Eiland. “So it’s gonna be a great adjustment, but I am excited about it.”

The reason I believe it is such a mistake is because Yankee fans are truly spoiled.

Spoiled?

Well, up until ’95 I was a Yankee fan and a big one at that. I went through 12 years of being a Yankee fan, before that time I can’t really admit to being a follower of the sport to any great extent although I did go to the ’76 World Series and a helleva lot of Yankee games because someone connected to the family was a ballboy.

Those years of being a Yankee fan gave me a great appreciation of Mariano Rivera.

See, I can remember Mariano’s first start (yes, that’s start). It was a spot start against the California Angels and Mariano got lit up but good. I specifically remembered if because the next day when I went into work another Yankee fan was commenting on the performance of the rookie pitcher and there was something about Mariano’s mound presence that really stuck with me.

Pitchers are funny, they control the game more than any other player on the field. Some of that has to do with ability but, a lot of that has to do with confidence as well.

If you’re a baseball fan, you know that even though a guy can throw hard, eventually major league hitters will catch up to a guy and hit that fastball. Great pitchers can throw hard but they have guile as well. They are tricksters but, like any magician a big part of it is believing in one’s own magic.

Mariano’s first performance was noticeable because even though he was knocked around by the Angels, you could see on his face he wasn’t intimidated. It probably sounds simple but, sometimes you can see a pitcher out on the mound and realize just how lonely a job pitching can be. A bad day for a pitcher means failing in front of thousands, not an easy thing. If you look close, you can read it on a guy’s face, they look close to tears on a bad day. Those are the guys who won’t have long careers in the majors. The guys who stick around are the ones who can have a bad day and tough it out, Mariano is just such an example.

Before Mariano was designated closer for the Yankees, as a fan I suffered through quite a few nail biting eighth and ninth innings.

Dave Righetti was the Yankee closer for a long time and anyone who followed the Yankees back then will tell you what a nail biting experience it was when Righetti came into a game. You never quite knew which Righetti you were going to get, the guy who threw darts or the guy who couldn’t find the plate and quickly dug a hole for himself.

After Righetti left the Yanks, unthinkably he looked better and better as the Yankees struggled to find the answer that later came in the form of a skinny Panamanian kid.

Righetti left in 1990 and even before he left the Yankees were sorely trying to find alternatives. The list is long and filled with some interesting names: Jay Howell, Mike Armstrong, Jose Rijo, Brian Fisher, Rich Bordi, Bob Shirley, Neil Allen, Rod Scurry, Alfonso Pulido, Tim Stoddard, Pat Clements, Cecilio Guante, Charles Hudson, Dale Mohorcic, Lee Gutterman, Lance McCullers, Greg Cadaret, John Habyan, Steve Howe.

Finally, when the Yankees got Steve Farr they thought they’d found the answer but it wouldn’t last.

People forget Lee Smith pitched for the Yankees, they tried Bob Wickman out and went back to using Steve Howe. Xavier Hernandez, Sterling Hitchcock and Jeff Reardon would all record saves until the Yankees swung a deal and landed John Wetteland.

Wettland would be the bridge and mentor to Mariano Rivera but, looking through that list of names it took an awfully long time to find someone like Mariano.

Mariano signed a four year contract in the off-season so he’ll be 41 when his contract is up. funny thing about closers though is that when they go, it isn’t a gradual thing. Mariano has been a sure thing for Yankee fans for so long, they’ve forgotten the uncertainty of what life was like before Mariano and in Chamberlain, they could well have Mariano’s heir apparent.

Chamberlain will be 25 at the end of Mariano’s contract and there is no reason to believe that Mariano will be as dominant at 41 as he has been up to this point. Plus, Chamberlain has already proven himself to be the perfect bridge to Mariano, effectively closing the door in the 8th inning of games.

Good closers are hard to find.

And as much as Yankee fans may think this is a good idea, remember last year everyone was going on about how Phil Hughes was the second coming of Roger Clemens. Well, we see how that went, don’t we?