It went largely unnoticed, but I thought this was the biggest story of the day. Brian Cashman said today that Phil Hughes will be working out of the bullpen until Brian Bruney comes back, not as a temporary backup for Chien Ming Wang. Here’s a quote from Brian, referring to their plans with Hughes:
“We’ll see how this plays out over the next few weeks,” Cashman said. “It’s certainly tied to Brian Bruney.”
Unstable Fables: 3 Pigs & a Baby ipod He said it again on the LoHud pregame press conference, if anyone wants to hear it in its full context. He made clear the team still views Phil as a starter long term, as does Phil himself, but they view this as the best use of him short term. He also said how it would be great if Phil did so well in the bullpen that we’d have another ‘Joba to the bullpen’ type debate over where he belongs. With the suspension of AJ Burnett coming down today, it’s likely Hughes gets at least one of those starts, so if Bruney gets healthy quickly its possible he sees very little action out of the pen.
Mike Francesa said on his show that Hughes himself requested this. It’s not new, we all knew Phil wanted to stay in the bigs the last time his place in the rotation came up, and was quoted as saying so. But this appears to be a big shift from the Yankee brass, who seemed to be sending signals recently that after a short while, Hughes would be demoted to AAA.
Bruney is at least a month away, he’s still playing catch at this point. If Bruney doesn’t come back at all, which is not unlikely given how many setbacks he’s had, Hughes could be in the bullpen the rest of the year.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
0 Responses to Hughes in the Bullpen Indefinitely
Leave a Reply
TIQ IQ
I think you are reading too much into it. He is tied to Bruney as long as Bruney is on the path to return. If Bruney ends up out for the season, they will still send Hughes down to meet his innings quota.
If he is terrific (or even just very good) out of the bullpen, do you think they will still send him down in a month after they figure out Bruney’s not coming back? I don’t.
If he performs, it will be very tough to put that Genie back in the bottle. Plus, he would need to be stretched out again, so might as well just leave him alone.
That’s true. To me, it depends how they use him. If they use him as a long man and he is good, I think they could send him down. But if they use him in a setup role and he is really good, they may have a hard time moving him out of the role, although they should.
Another thing to consider is the context of all of this.
Bullpen ERA
Yanks-#12 (3rd to last)
BoSox-#1
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/aggregate?sort=ERA&split=128&group=7&season=2009&seasonType=2&statType=pitching&type=reg
The Yanks are better in starter’s ERA and Runs scored, the one big (actually huge) edge the Sox have over us is in the bullpen. Anything we can do to narrow that gap will be very hard to undo if it works.
This whole situation is just so wrong. It screams of short-sightedness. I have a feeling Hughes will excel in that 8th inning role and it will be very hard to send him down to AAA. I fear that he will be in the bullpen forever. What the Yankees really should be doing is trying to find an 8th inning guy from within the organization not named joba or hughes – maybe robertson, melancon. I feel like using Hughes in the 8th is such a band-aid move. He should be in AAA, continuing to develop and be that 6th starter on standby.
“I fear that he will be in the bullpen forever.”
I support this move 100%, but I think there is zero chance that happens. I don’t care if he outperforms Joba from 2006, he’s still a starter.
Who says if Hughes excels in the bullpen this year he’ll be there forever? If it fits with the team’s short-term plans, like Joba to the bullpen in 2007, then they’ll do it, and Hughes will be back on the starting horse next year.
If the Yankees think sacrificing half a year of starting development for Hughes is worth it for the value he brings to the bullpen, then they’ll do it. He’s only 22/23. If he starts next year as the fifth starter, at the age of 24, with something like a 170 IP limit, then no one will be complaining, especially if they make the World Series the year before.
If you’ve listened to David Cone (and others) the bullpen experience would enhance Phil’s development as a starter, not hurt it. Kids have got their feet wet in the big leagues forever. We’ve all gone over the lists of great pitchers who started out in the bullpen, and I’ve never bought into the dramatization that relievers are ‘a separate breed’ that requires a special mentality. Hughes has the repertoire to get guys out, period.
Look’s like he’s starting for AJ next start and who knows about Pettitte or Wang going forward.Keep him here, let him pitch and learn.
Mariano can work with him on his splitter (which is a huge need for Phil) in the pen too.
Best thing in the world for him. In Triple A , all he’d be doing is firing heaters in hope of getting back up quickly.He’d learn zilch.