The Plan for Phil Hughes
Last week the highly publicized battle for the 5th spot in the rotation came to an end with Phil Hughes being named the winner. Seems like a rather routine end to one of the most watched battles this spring, doesn’t it? Well, as we have all come to learn the Yankees are far from average, so it makes sense that this story had one more development in waiting. That decision is that Phil Hughes will not be the fifth starter to begin the season. I know what you’re thinking: “What?!?!? After all of the thought that went into the Yankees decision to name Hughes the fifth starter to open the season, they suddenly decide to rescind that decision??” The answer to that question: kind of.
The Yankees have decided to begin the 2010 season without a 5th starter and allow Hughes to remain in extended spring training. Hughes, actually, is scheduled to be the Yankees 5th starter, but, he’ll have to wait two weeks. Hughes will make his first start of the 2010 season on April 15th when the Yankees host the Angels. In a spring training story with just about as many developments as the Tiger Woods scandal, I am both surprised and impressed with this decision. When Hughes was originally named the 5th starter there was no speculation or indication that he would not be in the visiting club house in Boston on April 4th. However, this decision makes a great deal of sense for a few reasons.
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By now, every Yankees fan and maybe everybody in the world knows that Hughes will have an innings limit in 2010. Keeping Hughes in extended spring training will allow the Yankees to trim innings off of Hughes’ 2010 season on the front end. While Hughes will make a few starts in extended spring training, these starts are “controlled” and they can pull him at any time without having an effect on the major league bullpen. Basically this provides a loophole for the Yankees in a self-imposed rule. With this loophole the Yankees can actually allow Hughes to throw around 185 innings this season (170 in the MLB and 15 in extended spring training) without having to catch any flack for not maintaining the same rule for Hughes that they did for Joba. With Hughes’ innings limited on the front end of the season the Yankees will not have to impose absurd limits on Hughes that could impact the team as they head down the home stretch of the season. Last year the Yankees dug their own grave with Joba as they limited him to 3 or 4 innings every 6 or 7 days that not only put a toll on their bullpen, but also on their other starters as they had to pitch more frequently. Also, Joba was rendered ineffective toward the end of the season as a result of the limits that were put on him.
Hughes will also be able to continue working on his pitches without any real consequences in extended spring training. Hughes has been focusing on his changeup a lot this spring and he has actually come a long way with it. However, a changeup is something that is all about repetition so the extra practice will definitely aid in his development of the pitch. Also, in yesterday’s start Hughes struggled at times which he attributed to an ineffective curveball. While Hughes said that the focus on his changeup has not taken away from the development and maintenance of his curveball, it is something that I do not rule out. The time in extended spring training will allow Hughes to focus on further developing all of his pitches, focus on his control, and allow him to stretch his arm out. This is a case in which the Yankees have definitely learned from their mistakes and I could not agree more with their decision.
What do you think about Hughes sticking in extended spring training? Will it allow him to be more effective throughout the season as some of the stress of an innings limit will be relieved?
Photo courtesy of Zimbio.com
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Hughes needs to control his off-spead stuff before he’s going to be league average as a starter. He was spotting the fastball wherever he wanted on Wed vs the Twins, but the breaking balls were nowhere near the plate. Delmon Young even laid off 2 of them when he was down 0-2 in the count. That has to say something.