Does Joba need to leave New York to revive his career?

The New York Yankees played their final game of the spring on Tuesday. After a 2-1 Grapefruit League victory over the Detroit Tigers, the New York Yankees got on a plane and headed to Yankee Stadium for a Wednesday afternoon workout.

Reliever Joba Chamberlain will be part of the opening day roster when the Yankees face the Tigers for real on Thursday afternoon. But at least one major league scout wonders if Chamberlain will eventually have to go to another team to find success.

From ESPN NewYork.com:

A scout said that he thinks Chamberlain needs to go somewhere else to ever reach his potential. The thought being that too much has happened for Chamberlain ever to really be a big impact player in New York. It will be interesting to see how Chamberlain reacts to being an even less important member of the team. It has become a disturbing trend over Chamberlain's Yankees career.

To be fair, there have been no recent rumblings of Chamberlain being moved. Most reports on him have been glowing. Last week, Chamberlain raised eyebrows by clocking 96 mph with his fastball and appears to be the Yankees' choice for their seventh-inning reliever.

But Chamberlain has become something of a forgotten man when discussing the Yankees' pitching staff. The team felt the need to sign a set-up reliever to support Mariano Rivera in the bullpen, and shelled out $35 million for free agent Rafael Soriano. (Well, Yankees ownership felt that need. Brian Cashman, perhaps not so much.) That wasn't exactly a vote of confidence in Chamberlain's future.

What's particularly baffling is that the Yankees didn't consider moving Chamberlain back into the starting rotation. Maybe you've heard they need a fourth or fifth starter? Chamberlain started 31 games for the Yankees in 2009, finishing with a 9-6 record and 4.75 ERA. Those numbers aren't stellar, but could be better than whatever Ivan Nova or Freddy Garcia can provide at the back end of the rotation.

During the winter, Cashman shot down the idea of Chamberlain starting, saying "It's just not the same stuff." Chamberlain did show a decline in velocity and struggled with his control as a starting pitcher, so maybe the team had serious questions about his durability. Those concerns probably weren't lessened when he reported to spring training carrying more weight.

Trading Chamberlain right now seems unlikely, especially with Pedro Feliciano shut down for the next 10 days with a sore shoulder. Maybe the Yankees want to trade him for some starting pitching. But would any team deal for Chamberlain until they know he's a sure thing in the bullpen again? And if he's pitching well, wouldn't the Yankees just be better off keeping him?

Maybe Chamberlain needs a change of scenery to ultimately reach his potential. But he also has an excellent opportunity to revive his Yankees career this season.

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