Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner, like his father George, has never been one to mince words. When it comes to where pitcher Joba Chamberlain should be -- the bullpen or the starting rotation -- the younger Steinbrenner's expectations are crystal clear.

"I want him as a starter and so does everyone else, including him, and that is what we are working toward and we need him there now," Steinbrenner told The New York Times. "There is no question about it, you don't have a guy with a 100-mile-per-hour fastball and keep him as a set-up guy. You just don't do that. You have to be an idiot to do that."

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman apparently disagrees.

"Joba's staying in the bullpen right now," Cashman told Newsday on Monday. "That's where we're at. [Putting him in the rotation is] not something that's going to happen here early on, and [Hank] knows that. We've talked about it. I don't know what set him off."

On Monday evening, Steinbrenner toned down his comments.

"We're not going to rush him," the New York Yankees co-chairman said at the team's spring training complex. "I think most people agree with me, including the baseball people and most of the fans, that sooner or later it would be nice if he was a starter."

Cashman then said that the two had come to a meeting of the minds.

"Hank and I talked. We didn't need to," Cashman said. "We were on the same page yesterday. We're on the same page today. And we're on the same page moving forward. Joba Chamberlain is bullpen because it's where he's needed the most right now as well as because he has an innings limit. He can't start because of that innings limit or he'd have to stop starting here at some point."

Cashman expects the switch to the rotation to come sometime this year.

"He'll finish out as a starter. He won't start as a starter," the GM said.

Earlier in the day, Cashman said it's too early to make any drastic changes.