Joba and Hughes: Making the job tough for Girardi

I am not sure I truly understand why, but Yankees.com is reporting that Yankees manager Joe Girardi has a *tough* decision ahead of him deciding on the 5th spot in the rotation. As I have already said before, and I will continue to say, there is absolutely no reason why this should be a *tough* decision for Girardi. The numbers aren’t a secret. I don’t care if Joba throw 5 innings of no-hit baseball in his last outing of the spring… he does not belong in the starting rotation. Despite Hughes slight struggles of late, they are struggles that can be easily worked around, whereas, Joba just doesn’t have the arsenal to make it as a starter right now. I would love for Joba to prove me wrong, but the fact of the matter is that Mariano, despite how fantastic he is year in and year out, his career will have to end at some point. That is where Joba comes into mind. The Yankees need to start preparing a pitcher to replace the great Mo when the time comes. It is not guaranteed how much longer Mariano can go. He could have 2 years left, 4 years left, or this could really be the last year of his dominance. We can’t take him for granted as he is human after all. Joba has the make-up to be a dominant closer, while Hughes has the make-up as a starter… end of story in my book.

To read more on this *tough* decision for Joe Girardi, check out the following story:  Hughes, Joba making it tough for Girardi

What are your thoughts? Should this be a tough decision for manager Joe Girardi?

Click on each image for stats via Baseball-Reference.com.

Photos courtesy of Zimbio.com

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2. Joba and Hughes – Part 2
3. The Plan for Phil Hughes
4. Joba Struggling, Aceves Thriving (UPDATE)
5. Yankees Joba Chamberlain could be facing Tommy John surgery