But beyond the next few weeks, you have to wonder where this is all heading for Chamberlain. Even though Joba still occasionally cranked up his fastball to 95-96 mph this season, Yankee people privately admit that since injuring his shoulder in 2008, he hasn’t had the same life on his heater or the same bite on his once-unhittable slider.

It doesn’t mean Chamberlain can’t be effective. He finished the season with a 4.40 ERA, but that was due mostly to some blow-up innings in the first half. As Girardi said Tuesday, “He had hiccups just like everyone else, but his hiccups were usually a little bigger, lasted a little longer.”

Chamberlain was better in the second half, posting a 2.15 ERA over his final 30 appearances.

– John Harper, N.Y. Daily News.

You can’t really blame Joe Girardi for slotting Kerry Wood above Joba Chamberlain on the Yanks’ postseason bullpen depth chart. After all, Wood posted a 0.69 ERA in 26 innings after joining the Yanks. Sure, he probably enjoyed a little bit of luck — he struck out an impressive 31 batters in that stretch but walked 18 — but it’s hard to argue with those results.

And I’ll add that, though Chamberlain’s average fastball velocity isn’t far off his mark from 2008 — it was 95.0 then and 94.6 in 2010 — as Harper asserts, there’s a chance that shoulder troubles have impacted its movement and effectiveness. Neither his fastball nor his slider rates as well as it did in 2007 or 2008, and he induces fewer swinging strikes.

But all that said, Chamberlain is still a good pitcher and there’s a whole lot of evidence to suggest he suffered a great deal of misfortune this season. He struck out more than a batter per inning and walked only 22 guys in 71 2/3 frames, and his FIP, xFIP and tERA were all more than a run lower than his ERA. And it’s easy to forget that he’s still only 25.

If the Yankees are silly enough to have devalued Chamberlain because of a rough season ERA-wise, some team would be wise to make a move for him this winter, expecting he’ll return to form. The Yankees usually don’t work like that, though.

Going with a three-man rotation during the final two playoff rounds last season was a less complicated call for the Yankees. For one thing, they did not have a better alternative for Game 4. Chad Gaudin was an unappealing candidate who was never truly considered, and in that light, Sabathia was the only possible choice.

This year, the Yankees have Burnett, whose 5.26 E.R.A. was the highest in franchise history among pitchers who threw at least 180 innings. Girardi was noncommittal when asked whether Burnett would start in the A.L.C.S., but giving him a start in a seven-game series would be less risky, especially because the postseason schedule is not nearly as favorable.

Last year’s A.L.C.S. had an extra day off between Games 4 and 5 that allowed Sabathia, in a dominant Game 4, to be the only one to pitch on short rest. Burnett worked Game 5 on normal four days’ rest and Pettitte, after a rainout, started Game 6 on five days’ rest. Barring rainouts, no such flexibility exists this year. Major League Baseball, bowing to complaints that last year’s series took too long (6 games in 10 days), eliminated that superfluous off day. It means that over a potential seven games for the Yankees — if they committed to using three starters — their final four games would be pitched on short rest.

– Ben Shpigel, N.Y. Times.

We should all have such problems. But at first consideration, it strikes me that the Yankees — and for all I know this flies in the face of game theory — should reserve a decision on what to do in Game 4 until they know what happens in the first three games.

If they emerge from those contests up 2-1 or 3-0, then they might as well roll the dice with Burnett in Game 4, knowing that at very worst they’ll be looking at a best-of-3 series with their three best pitchers on regular rest.

If they’re down 2-1 or with their backs to the wall, then they probably need to go with the big fella, as there’s almost no chance they should risk burying themselves with Burnett on the mound.

The problem with that, I imagine, is that Sabathia, Hughes and Pettitte would have to prepare differently if they were planning to start on three days’ rest than on regular rest. So, you know, nevermind.

The Rays’ payroll is $72 million and change. David Price, Evan Longoria, Carlos Pena, the whole team bus. The payroll for the Yankee starting rotation, the original one, the one with the immortal Javy Vazquez in it?

That payroll is right around $65 million.

Just for the starting pitchers. If you want a little more context, that is about what Cincinnati spent this year on all the baseball players who finally put the Reds back in the postseason.

– Mike Lupica, N.Y. Daily News.

I wish every column and blog post scolding the Yankees for spending so much money on players was directed at Major League Baseball for setting up a system wherein the Yankees can spend so much money on players. The Yanks do exactly what they should do: They pump their ample ad, ticket, broadcasting and merchandising revenue back into the club to assure that they will continue reaping that money in the future.

And does anyone think Brian Cashman or the Steinbrenners cares that the Yankees have to spend $200-something million to the Rays’ $72 million? I mean, maybe they do, but both teams are playoff-bound. Yes, the Rays spent their payroll money more efficiently. But clearly the Bombers are just playing with a lot more money than every other team, so they can shoulder contracts like A.J. Burnett’s and Kei Igawa’s a lot more easily than the Rays could.

I guess the crux of Lupica’s column is that for $213 million, the Yanks shouldn’t have holes in their rotation. And maybe that’s fair. But the Yanks also have a deep and stacked lineup and the best record in the American League while playing in by far the best division in baseball. They’re doing something right.