Joba Chamberlain Says Yankees Are Top Dogs in AL East

(Zell's Pinstripe Blog)

Joba Chamberlain has stated that the Yankees are the team to beat. They haven’t won the World Series in the past eight years and missed out on the postseason last year, but I agree with him. I believe they have the best rotation, lineup, and closer in the AL East. They definitely will have competition, but with the Yankees' big offseason moves...they are the best team on paper.

“We’re always the team to beat, and we have that in our minds from the get-go,” Chamberlain said yesterday. “With the year the Rays had, people are going to look at it that they’re the team to beat. But...we’re always going to be the hunted just because of who we are and...we always go with the mindset that we are the best and that’s the way you have to play.”

Chamberlain said he had not spoken to Alex Rodriguez recently. But he called A-Rod “one of the greatest players ever to play” and said of his tainted teammate, “He’s always going to be there, and he’s always going to be a friend forever, so you look at it that way.”

“Everybody makes mistakes, but you also understand it’s about being a man and being a grown person, about admitting faults, admitting mistakes,” he said. “You just have to admit it and move on. You become a better person for it, and I’ve become a better person for everything that I’ve gone through.”

“I did the same exercises and I added a couple. It wasn’t fun all the time, but it definitely got the job done,” he said. “I feel great. Probably feel a lot better than I usually have.”

2009 Preseason Not Top 30 Prospects / David Ortiz Had to Have Taken Steroids? / Cashman on A-Rod, and Missing Yankee Numbers 

Early camp roundup / More Joe Girardi audio

Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez sound very much A-like