TAMPA — Joba Chamberlain's career has veered from exhilarating to frustrating to a testament to sweat and hard work. Now, in its latest and perhaps last chapter, Chamberlain's saga has become heart-wrenching as the Yankee reliever lies in a Tampa hospital bed with a possible career-ending ankle injury.



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Chamberlain suffered a gruesome open dislocation of his right ankle while playing with his son Thursday and, according to a Yankee source, lost a potentially life-threatening amount of blood. He has already had surgery and will remain in the hospital for several more days, his inspiring comeback from Tommy John surgery put on hold, at the very least.



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"Keep him in your prayers, because obviously he's facing a lot right now," said Yankee GM Brian Cashman, who appeared shaken while delivering the news to reporters Friday at the Yankees' spring training home.



"My heart goes out to him," added Joe Girardi, who spent 30 minutes with Chamberlain at the hospital Friday in what the manager said was an emotional visit. "We're behind him, we're going to take care of him, we'll get him back, but right now he's going through a hard time."



Chamberlain, 26, bloomed into a heat-throwing, fist-pumping sensation when he first reached the majors in 2007, a prospect whose arrival was so anticipated fans were chanting his name before he'd even thrown a pitch in the big leagues.



He inspired T-shirts with slogans, and "The Joba Rules," a set of pitching restrictions designed to limit the stress on his precious right arm. The Yankees long treated him as if he were made of delicate crystal, yet he got hurt anyway, requiring elbow ligament-replacement surgery last year.



Chamberlain was a magnet for drama and discussion, it seemed, whether it was about the time he was besieged by Lake Erie midges while on the mound during a playoff game in Cleveland or a 2008 DUI arrest or the will-he-start or will-he-relieve debate that raged endlessly around him.



Now he's likely in a fight to pitch again. An open dislocation means that bone pierced the skin, which can add dangerous complications, according to Dr. Steven Weinfeld, the chief of Foot and Ankle Service and Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.



"When the skin is intact, it's much easier to heal," Weinfeld said. "This makes it not only a career-threatening injury, but a limb-threatening injury. There is a small percentage of people who end up with an amputation. There are a small percentage of people, if the skin envelope doesn't heal, they are susceptible to infection and that can lead to amputation. These days, that's less likely to happen because we have good antibiotics."



Chamberlain won't be able to put weight on the ankle for two or three months, estimated Weinfeld, who has not treated the pitcher but is an expert on such injuries. That means Chamberlain won't start baseball-related activities anytime soon.

"I would be very surprised if he played this year," Weinfeld added.



"You feel extremely bad for him," said Yankee captain Derek Jeter. "He's worked hard to get his arm back in shape and — I'm no trainer — but it seemed he was ahead of schedule because he'd worked extremely hard on that. This fluke accident, you feel extremely bad for him."



Jeter said he had reached out to Chamberlain. "I didn't have a conversation with him, but I'm pretty sure how he's feeling," Jeter said. "He's got to be pretty disappointed."



Chamberlain was playing with his 5-year-old son, Karter, — who was unhurt — at a kids recreation center in the Tampa area when he was hurt, Cashman said. Though the GM said he didn't yet know the full story on how Chamberlain was hurt, he added, "I believe it was a trampoline, whether it was a trampoline specifically — any of you who have kids, there's places out there you can go with your children and it's a lot of gymnastic stuff. That's what it sounds like. That's a loose description."



Both Cashman and Girardi steered the conversation back to how much they care about Chamberlain when they were asked whether the injury might have an effect on Chamberlain's contract. He is due to earn $1.675 million this year.



"I haven't looked at it," Cashman said. "He's not on a guaranteed contract. I'm not really here to talk about that. Right now, I'm really focused on him as a person and an individual. He's someone we care a great deal about."



Chamberlain had made remarkable progress in his attempt to return from Tommy John surgery. He had worked so hard, Cashman said, he had actually moved up the timetable for his return. While the Yankees believed he'd be back by August, Chamberlain was shooting for sooner. The team was definitely counting on his "power arm" in the bullpen this season.



Even with likely long odds, Girardi won't give up on Chamberlain.



"You can only look forward, you can't think, 'What if?'" Girardi said. "You've got to move forward and we're going to get you healthy and you'll be the pitcher you're meant to be."