Chamberlain removed with stiff right shoulder

August 4, 2008 by Benjamin Kabak 65 Comments

The Yankees have just announced that stud youngster Joba Chamberlain left tonight’s Yankees/Rangers game with a “stiff right shoulder.” Joba left the game accompanied by Yanks’ trainer Gene Monahan with two outs in the five. Right now, no one has anymore information than this, and we’ll keep everyone posted as this story develops. Hopefully, this is nothing serious, but shoulder stiffness is never a good sign.

Update 10:45 p.m.: Before you all jump off a collective bridge, remember that the last time a promising young Yankee pitcher had a “stiff right shoulder,” the Yanks simply shut that pitcher down for two months to prevent anything serious from developing. That pitcher ended up being fine. His name? Chien-Ming Wang. While the Yanks could shut Joba down for the season as a precaution, don’t start the collective panicking until we know more.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=594331910 Jamal G.

What can shoulder stiffness potentially lead to?
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Ben K.
  
  Worst case scenario? Shoulder surgery. But we’re a long way away from jumping off that bridge.
matt k

i am very close to jumping off a bridge … great ad placement here btw
Manimal

Thanks for the reminder… lol. Its not like he was in an amazing amount of pain.
Lanny

The way the Yanks talk about injuries stiff shoulder means he’s done til 2009.

They will not risk their prized asset.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Ben K.
  
  Mike and I agree with this. If it’s anything at all, he’s probably going to be held back.
  - Lanny
    
    No matter what they diagnose I don’t think we see Joba throw another pitch in 2008. They are long term thinkers here and they will not rush him back for any reason.
    
    We now have to root for the the other two members of Gen Trey to actually pitch well.
Ivan R.

Ugh. I’m gonna go cut my pipi off. Maybe that will feel better than the news of another injury.
KW

Stinks for Joba, but hopefully it’s just cramps :)
A.D.

Stiff shoulder can mean nothing, or obv something. If you look back ppl have left with stiff shoulds just chalked it up to fatigue and made their next start no probem. Basically the Yanks haven’t actually diagnosed anything

With Wanger, I believe he had history of shoulder issues coming up in the minors.
Adam

Here’s the real dilemma, though. Do the Yanks stand a chance of making the postseason without Joba?

The answer is no. Joba’s the best starter on the team, and without him the pitching staff morphs from average to bad.

So, the question is… Go for gold, or shut him down and think of next year?
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Ben K.
  
  Shut him down. It’s not even a debate. If the difference is Joba’s long-term health vs. the Yanks’ short-term playoff picture, you shut him down.
  - BigBlueAL
    
    As much as it would suck of course you shut him down, for the season if you have to. Hughes and IPK have their chance now to save the 2008 season, what a story if the 2 guys who basically put this team in a pretty big hole earlier in the season can come back later in the season and maybe save the Yankees season….
  - Adam
    
    Are you sure? What’s the reason we want a player like Joba? To win championships.
    
    Flags Fly Forever, man. The risk is great, yes. But the window is closing on this Yankee team.
    - Radnom
      
      What are you talking about? Remember, they are in a transition year if anything. It’s not like they are all in for this year, otherwise Johan would be in the rotation.
      
      Even if that wasn’t the case, it is really *not* a debate. I don’t understand how anyone can have your point of view here. You do know he is only 23 right?
      - Joey H
        
        ok but then why the fuck would you get nady, marte, and pudge when you could of just had molina and chad? you are wrong.
        
        BklynJT
        
        Um because they are still likely with the team for next year.
        
        Joey H
        
        UM. thats a load of shit. they could have taken other cheaper routes of they were so concerned with making this a transition year
        
        http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/CRsmithT1.jpg tommiesmithjohncarlos
        
        Okay, this should totally not even be a debate.
        
        Throwing Joba out there give us a chance to win a title this year, at the possible expense of him giving us a chance to win the next 10 titles.
        
        If he’s got anything remotely serious, you shut him down.
        
        radnom
        
        These were cheaper routes. Who did they trade away who you see being useful for the future? Tabata maybe but that is a big maybe. They basically traded away spare parts to bolster the team a bit. But they are not going to throw away the future for a chance just to win this year which means not trading away the farm to rent Sabathia or Texiera and it means not risking the future health of Joba.
        
        You are just making yourself look foolish.
- KW
  
  Definitely no. It stinks, but you’d wanna win the war, rather than the battle. Sucks either way
BigBlueAL

Ugh so the good thing is the last time the Yankees had a young pitcher go through this he was shut down for 2 months and it was Wang. Remind me again the good news…..
Tim

One thing to keep in mind is the heat today in Texas. In that kind of heat athletes face dehydration and exhaustion which can cause all kinds of problems. Hopefully it is nothing more than that.
- http://highlandermadness.blogspot.com Rayblay
  
  I am hoping and praying you are right. At first when I heard “stiff shoulder” I figured he was just tired today and he’d be fine in a few days. Then again, I didn’t think CMW’s ankle injury was too bad at the time it happened.
- ceciguante
  
  this is just what i was thinking — it’s 100 freakin degrees down there, and they’re all sweating like pigs. hopefully it’s just a little cramp (please, please!) and joba is fine. nothing to do but hope now.
  
  but i agree w/ bigblueAL — it would be superior drama if hughes and kennedy bail the yanks out of this. let’s just hope all 3 are good and healthy going forward.
  
  come on jeter! we need a hit!
http://www.immaculateinning.com mehmattski

If you value your sanity, you probably shouldn’t do a google search for “Stiff Right Shoulder.”

You might find this:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3326397

Don’t blame me if you follow the link…. I warned you….
- Radnom
  
  lol screw you man
Radnom

Sorry if someone mentioned this in the game thread but has anyone thought maybe he tweaked it when he did that somersault to get out of the way of Pudge’s throw on the double play that was called back? Maybe that + the heat resulted in the stiff shoulder? I don’t know, maybe I’m just being hopeful, but it would sure be nice if that was it.
Chris

I’ve already jumped…in fact, I’m posting from my iphone as I fall…
- Radnom
  
  Must be a long fall, how is that working out for you?
Lanny

Great way to end this disaster of a night.

We won’t see Joba again this year.

Maybe IPK and Hughes can do it.
Joey H

damn .. this loss+ joba being out= end of the season
Joey H

now honestly, make me feel better. this whole “out for season” shit is blogger speculation. … right?
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Ben K.
  
  As I said, the team could shut him down, but we won’t know until we hear more from the Yanks. It’s going to be a lot of waiting until anything definite comes our way. I don’t want to speculate any more than we already have.
  - Joey H
    
    yeah and a lot of nail biting, cigarette smoking, jack daniels drinking .. the list can go on buddy lol
    - Nickel
      
      Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.
      - Joey H
        
        lmao. o well u can just bum some blow from hamilton :)
      - http://www.riveraveblues.com Ben K.
        
        Can you please not steal the lines I’m planning to use in the game wrapup? Thank you very much ;)
- Chris
  
  Right. Worst case is very bad, but best case isn’t really a big deal. It certainly could be a cramp, but it could also be something is torn and requires surgery. Right now, there’s no way to know.
Lanny

There is no chance they run Joba out there with any kind of physical problem.

None. Zero.

We have seen the last of him in 2008 no matter what the story is.
- Joey H
  
  lanny, you’ve said it 3 times on this one thread. we got hte god damned point. lets all hope for the best but expect the worse.. not just expect for the worst.
  - Joey H
    
    wow im out of it. “expect for the worst”.. oh i know wat it was i was gonna type “hope for the worst” but when i type in this comment box, i type and it doesnt register the text untill like 20 seconds after im done typing
- Chris
  
  Except that there’s a chance that this is simply a cramp and he’s 100% fine tomorrow. I assume that he’ll get an MRI no matter what, and we likely won’t know much until then.
A.D.

Good news, his last pitch was 96 and his motion looked as always, generally you see something more
- Joey H
  
  not always. unless they grimmace in pain, you never see anything. hes a tough guy anyway, he wants to play thru it
- The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
  
  i’m firmly in the “let’s not start freaking out too much until we know what’s wrong” camp, but i’ve had enough of the “his last pitch was 96 and that’s a good sign” stuff. for all we know, if he hurt himself, it happened on his follow-through or something. the velocity of his last pitch means absolutely nothing.
  - Joey H
    
    girardi jsut said that dropoff in velocity is something to look at.
    - The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
      
      obviously if there’s a drop-off in velocity, that’s a red flag. BUT, if there’s no drop-off, that’s not proof of health. there’s a difference.
      - Joey H
        
        yeah but its something that we can all sit on at this point in time
        
        The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
        
        yes. if you’re looking for something to comfort you, you can look at it that way.
E

Not optmistic. Plan for 09.
A.D.

Believed to be muscular, i’ll take it
- The Honorable Congressman Mondesi
  
  girardi doesn’t know anything yet (and he’s proven that even when he does know something, he isn’t completely forthright with the media).
  - BigBlueAL
    
    Girardi also doesnt know anything about managing. Zing!!!!
    - Joey H
      
      yeah agreed, im sorry but if you dont have your best control, as we all know marte didnt today, YANK THE MOTHERFUCKER! id rather take my chances with a fresh pitcher who has a better idea of the zone. just like kenny said, when you know a pitcher doesnt have the zone and has to find it again WILL lay one in there. horrible job of managing.
http://knickerbockerchatter.blogspot.com Bruno

: (
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike A.
  
  That about sums it up.
Joey H

great, now, there is nothing on TV so i have to listen to these ESPN scumbags babble on about brett god damned farve
- Joey H
  
  yeah and how they recap soccer games, oh and italy wins 2-NIL. WHO THE FUCK SAYS NIL!? infact whogives a shit about soccer in the first place?
  - http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=15305165 Doug
    
    Who says “nil?” Good question… you know, just everyone in the English-speaking parts of the world that follow soccer.
    
    And who gives a shit about soccer? Another good question. Probably Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa, but that’s about it. Not much, just a few billion people. These places are not America, of course, so they don’t really count.
    - Joey H
      
      “PRObably eruope asian and latin america” geee, something the united states isnt. and the point wasnt to bash soccer. its to exploit the lack of ESPN material. and yeah maybe pettite can throw a gem tomorrow and we can win 5 NIL!
      - http://www.new.facebook.com/profile.php?id=15305165 Doug
        
        “nil” is British English. Of all the things to catch feelings over…
        
        As sad as ESPN soccer coverage is, that’s one of the things they try to get right.
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