Chamberlain was, frankly, terrible down the stretch as a starter. From August 6 to Sept. 30, he made 11 starts and produced a 7.69 ERA. He allowed opposing hitters to hit .321 against him with a .926 OPS. Throughout his career, he's been much more effective as a late-inning reliever, and we saw it again Wednesday night -- when he came in to retire Delmon Young in the eighth inning of Game 1.
As fall begins and the Yankees near their first American League East championship since (gasp!) 2006, it's time for the focus in the Bronx to turn to the playoffs. While discussing Joba Chamberlain with the Bergen Record, Brian Cashman let two interesting playoff-related tidbits slip. The first is that the Yankees are planning on going with a 10-man pitching staff during the Division Series. The second is that Chamberlain isn't guaranteed one of those ten spots if he doesn't, "step it up," in the near future.
There's no denying that Chamberlain's been awful lately. In his last nine starts, his ERA is 8.25 and hitters are reaching base at a .409 clip. Even if he can't turn things around completely, it's hard to imagine him being left off the playoff roster entirely. Leaving him off of the playoff roster would leave a spot open for someone like Chad Gaudin, who's not really much of an upgrade. Still, looking at the schedule it's entirely possible that Cashman isn't bluffing.
MLB Power Rankings:Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.
It's a funny thing, sometimes, to see how Power Rankings shape up over the course of the season. Just like when we started the year, there are a number of teams from one particular division sitting atop the rankings. Of course, there are plenty of surprises -- WHERE DID THE FREAKING GIANTS AND ROCKIES COME FROM?? -- and some other interesting stuff, like the fact that the Mets and Cubs just haven't been that good, which we discussed on the inaugural BaseCast recently.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Adam LaRoche, he of the longest swing in the majors, is starting to heat up. In the last 9 games, he's hit .387 with 3 home runs, 5 RBI, 4 runs, 2 doubles, a .444 on-base percentage and 1.186 OPS. If his career history is any indicator, we can expect things to continue along this pace.
It's just that he's starting things up a bit early. In LaRoche's career, he's been two different players per season. Just look at his splits. He's a decent hitter with good power in through June. From July on, though, he's a good hitter with great power.
Maybe I'm being a bit hard on these guys, but almost 59 percent of the 41 pitchers who are starting twice this week are being placed in the "Risky Business" category.
There are a couple of touted rookies who make up the 59 percent like the Rays' David Price and Atlanta's Kris Medlen. There are also some big-named pitchers who should never be placed among the "Risky Business" pitchers who just are throwing well, or their teams aren't winning behind them. Jon Lester and Francisco Liriano come to mind immediately.
Like I said, in all there are 41 two-start pitchers this week. Make sure that you get your lineups locked early today as there are a bunch of afternoon games. The first is 1:10 PM ET when Houston plays Cincinnati.
Gregg was brought in this winter after a trade on a one-year $4.2 million deal after saving 61 games with the Florida Marlins the last two seasons to help replace Kerry Wood, who signed with Cleveland, at the back end of the bullpen. Many of the team's fans were in favor of Marmol, but Gregg out-pitched him this spring and gives Piniella more flexibility with his bullpen as closer.
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.
Meet the ... Team who decided 97 wins wasn't enough. Seriously, why would you go out and intentionally make your team worse? Sorry, I'll spare you the huge homeristic rant right now. Instead, I'll just say that you can find good fantasy options at nearly every turn with this team, even though you shouldn't be taking any in the first few rounds.
Before the 2008 season started it was a well known fact that the Oakland Athletics were in a full-blown rebuilding process. They'd traded away both Dan Haren and Nick Swisher for prospects as general manager Billy Beane felt it was necessary to restock the shelves of Oakland's farm system. Then the season started, and a team that was supposed to struggle was playing surprisingly well, and even in the playoff hunt.
Still, this did not sway Beane from his vision, and he traded away Rich Harden, Joe Blanton, and Chad Gaudin at the deadline. Since then, Oakland has not been winning much. In fact, they've lost 21 of their last 27 games, and it doesn't look like things will get too much better over the final weeks.
Beane knows this, and though he realizes it's tough to watch at times, he doesn't want Athletics fans to abandon ship just yet. Land will be ho some day, he promises.
"Listen, the performance lately has been a little rougher than anyone would like to go through," Beane said by phone before the A's 2-0 victory over the Mariners on Thursday. "But we didn't make any bones about what we were going to do when we said we were going to go through a rebuilding.
Take a deep breath, baseball fans. The dust has settled after another trading deadline, and what a deadline it was. Three future Hall of Famers were moved. So was a reigning Cy Young winner and two former All-Stars. And we haven't talked about Rich Harden yet. Undoubtedly, 2008 was the most entertaining trading season in recent memory for baseball fans.
After years of near-misses, the Red Sox finally send disgruntled slugger Manny Ramirez packing. Ramirez lands with the Dodgers as part of a three-way deal.
Christian Petersen, Getty Images
Former All-Star Jason Bay winds up in Boston as the other major piece of the three-way deal. Pittsburgh receives two prospects apiece from the Dodgers and Red Sox for its part in the trade.
Nick Laham, Getty Images
In the final year of his contract, the Reds send Ken Griffey Jr. to the AL Central-leading White Sox in exchange for two prospects, including sinker-balling pitcher Nick Masset.
David Kohl, AP
In need of a big bat for October, the Angels acquired Mark Teixeira from the Braves in exchange for first baseman Casey Kotchman and a pitching prospect.
Elise Amendola, AP
With fixture Jorge Posada out for the season, the Yankees moved swiftly to get Ivan Rodriguez, sending reliever Kyle Farnsworth to Detroit in return for the Gold Glove catcher.
Gregory Shamus, Getty Images
The Brewers made the first big move of trading season, acquiring reigning AL Cy Young winner CC Sabathia from Cleveland for a package of four prospects, including Matt LaPorta.
Jeff Roberson, AP
The Cubs bolstered an already deep starting rotation by acquiring Rich Harden from the A's. Oakland also sent relief pitcher Chad Gaudin to Chicago and received pitcher Sean Gallagher, outfielder Matt Murton, infielder Eric Patterson and catcher Josh Donaldson in return.
Charles Rex Arbogast, AP
The Phillies got much-needed rotation depth in the form of Joe Blanton from Oakland. The A's received three prospects, including second baseman Adrian Cardenas and pitcher Josh Outman.
Seth Wenig, AP
Florida acquires one of the many left-handed relievers on the market, adding Arthur Rhodes from Seattle for minor league pitcher Gaby Hernandez.
Jim McIsaac, Getty Images
The Yankees also added depth for the stretch run, landing outfielder Xavier Nady and reliever Damaso Marte for a package of four prospects that included right fielder Jose Tabata.
Getty Images (2)
Truth be told, it will take years before we know who helped themselves or hurt themselves at the 2008 trade deadline. That's just the way it is when boom-or-bust prospects are involved. But here's an educated (and roughly ordered) guess anyway at which teams won and which teams lost now that the July 31 deadline has come and gone.
Winners
Angels: With a double-digit lead in the AL West, the Angels didn't need to do anything to get to October. They went out and got slugging first baseman Mark Teixeira anyway, and it's nothing short of a coup. For all the praise heaped upon Mike Scioscia's throwback run-at-all costs strategy, it hasn't done much for Los Angeles in the postseason. The Halos have scored 17 runs in their last eight postseason games dating back to 2005, and they don't have single regular slugging over .500 this year. They needed a bat to go all the way in October, and that's just what they got in Teixeira.
On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups
Since the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago Cubs are the two teams in the NL Central making all the moves, most people have begun writing off the St. Louis Cardinals as division contenders. It's pretty hard to blame anyone for feeling this way. After all, in recent weeks the Brewers have added an ace to their starting rotation in CC Sabathia, and just yesterday they added some infield depth when they picked up Ray Durham from the Giants.
I don't expect the Durham trade to be Milwaukee's last play, either.
The Cardinals? Well, for the most part they're just crossing their fingers that Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright can return in August and provide a boost to the ballclub. The problem with this approach is that the Redbirds may very well find themselves out of the race by then if they sit on their hands. That's why every game right now is important for the Cardinals, and the four game set they're about to begin with the Brewers tonight is huge.
Though they still have a few more victories before advancing to the ALCS, according to the New York Post, the New York Yankees have already decided that they will be using Chad Gaudin -- not Joba Chamberlain -- as their fourth starter should they get past the Twins in the ALDS. It's a move that seems a bit surprising, considering the Yankees' insistence on keeping Chamberlain in the rotation all year, but it also appears to be the correct move. 
As fall begins and the 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
The biggest question surrounding the Cubs this spring was answered by 
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through 
Before the 2008 season started it was a well known fact that the Oakland Athletics were in a full-blown rebuilding process. They'd traded away both 
