REJECTED: Yankees To Joba

Joba Chamberlain was hoping to seal a deal which would put him on 1050 ESPN radio with Michael Kay on a weekly basis. Unfortunately for the Nebraska native, Brian Cashman and the Yankees organization called off the gabfest, citing a longstanding policy.

Joba Chamberlain found that out when he came within a midge’s whisker of signing up for a weekly spot on Michael Kay’s ESPN 1050 show, which recently added controversy-in-waiting Billy Wagner.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman nixed the idea. Turns out such gigs are a Yankees no-no. “It’s a policy I’ve had in place for a long time now,” he said before yesterday’s mist-out. “We should speak with one voice, whether it is the manager or general manager. They can speak postgame or pregame or in their normal interview process but not have a regular schedule.”

(Asked about being denied a place on Kay’s show, Chamberlain said he was not aware of any such deal. Strange. Maybe his agent worked on it without telling him.)

Cashman said the Yankees also prohibit players from writing diaries or columns for newspapers come playoff time. “We’ve had that shut down for years now,” he said. “These guys are paid to play baseball; they’re not paid to be columnists or talk show hosts. They can do that when their playing careers are over.”

This is probably a good idea. Attempting to answer Kay's questions on a weekly basis may cause brain bubbles.