N.Y. Daily News: Hank Steinbrenner: Do your own jobs

Barnaldo Swipes, sends along even more Hankerings.

Do your own jobs, and stop worrying about Joba. That was Hank Steinbrenner’s strongly worded message Friday for Johnny Damon or any other veteran Yankee who wants to see Joba Chamberlain switched back to the bullpen.

“I love Johnny Damon as a player and a person, and he’s really doing the job right now. But let’s be honest here, he’s not Branch Rickey,” Steinbrenner told the Daily News in a telephone interview before Friday night’s game against the Royals, referring to the legendary baseball executive. “Johnny is a player, and as players, they all need to let the brain trust do the thinking and do the talking.

...“I think even (Chien-Ming) Wang’s slump shows how fragile starting pitching can be. We’ll get Wang straightened out and Joba will help us get our starting pitching in order, and then we’ll concentrate on doing something about the bullpen.”

...“Every baseball expert I’ve talked to or read (their quotes) agrees with us, that Joba was wasting away out there (in the pen),” Steinbrenner said. “The kid is 22 and he’s going to have a long and productive career. We believe, as do all the experts, that it’s going to be at the front of our rotation for the next 10 years or so. Pitching, that’s the only way to build.”