So
Kevin Youkilis is now a Yankee as we all know. Well, apparently his grudge against pitcher
Joba Chamberlain could still exist. Just today,
Boston.com posted an article about how Youk hasn't returned Joba's call, in which the pitcher welcomed the former Sox player to the team. Could Youkilis actually still be holding something against Joba? He's thrown pitches at Youk's head multiple times in the past and even connected on one. Here's what Joba had to say about Youk's cold shoulder:
“I did everything I can do,” Chamberlain said. “I can’t control what Kevin Youkilis does, I can only control what I do and, you know what, we’ll go on from there.”
Joba seems a little annoyed to me. Anyways, he continued on the discussion and responded by saying this when he was asked if he was surprised that Youkilis hasn't responded:
“No, not really. I’m bound to run into him at some point. Sooner rather than later. We’ll see what happens. We’re grown men," he said.
Are we reading too much into this? Probably. There's still the possibility that Youk could actually be holding a grudge against Chamberlain. It should be noted that in the
NY Daily News article about the same topic, Joba chuckled when asked some of these questions. Also, during a conference call following his signing with the Yankees, Youk insisted that his history with Joba was put behind him:
“If it was that big a deal, I wouldn’t have been signing with the Yankees. But I don’t think it is that big of a deal. A lot of it is made out within the media and the fans.”
In the end, we'll see how this plays out. The media is more than likely putting too much thought into this. Don't be surprised if as soon as today, news comes out that Youk called Chamberlain back. Even if there is some tension between the two, the organization will probably keep it quiet.
