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Morrow and Chamberlain happened to be two players that I follow, and both the Yanks and the Ms faced the exact same situation, and both teams said they would not move them directly from short relief to the rotation because they wanted to limit the increase in IP from one year to the next, so that's what I'm familiar with.  Their statements were treated as reasonable precautions at the time, if I recall.  That is, I don't recall the media acting as if they were nuts to not plug them right into the rotation.
You're right that Wainwright and Feldman did jump by 100 IP and do not appear to have ruined their arms (Wainwright went on the DL the next year, but not due to arm problems).  I do note, however, that Wainwright had five full years as a starter in the minors before his one 75 IP year in relief in the majors.  So Feldman is the more analogous one.
Feldman had reliever seasons of 79, 68 and 69 IP before the leap to 163.  Kelley had 142 between college starter and rookie ball reliever in 2007, then 76 between AA and VWL in 08, then only 49 last year.
Now, perhaps Morrow and Joba were different in terms of being particularly fragile "precious commodities" that Feldman and Kelley are not (as in high draft picks), I don't know.
Like I said, the "rule" may be bogus, but that's the basis on which I was questioning whether they would do it, especially right out of ST.  And it's not a "rule" that says no one makes the switch, only that you do it in a way that there is a "transition year" in which innings are limited.  That was the plan mapped out by both the Ms and Yanks for Morrow and Joba in 2008, so it's not something that came out of nowhere.  Sandy made reference to it as well.