For the love of God, stopping saying he was rushed, or that not sticking to “the plan” is why he got hurt, or that it’s the trainer’s fault…

by 8 Comments

Phil Hughes interview on Baseball Tonight
The silver lining in the cloud of a Grade II hamstring strain

He overthrew a pitch and got hurt. That’s all. Keeping him Triple-A would have done absolutely nothing; you’d have to be an idiot not to see that he’s ready for the big leagues. He was getting his first taste of dominating big leaguers, and he wanted the whole damn cake. It was a mistake, he’ll learn from it.

You can sit in the passenger seat as much as you want and read as many books as humanly possible, but you have no idea what it’s like to drive until you get behind the wheel. Pitching for Scranton another month, 2 months, 6 months, whatever, would have done nothing but delay this injury until later in the year. It was a mistake brought on by lack of experience.

Rant over.

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Phil Hughes interview on Baseball Tonight
The silver lining in the cloud of a Grade II hamstring strain
  • http://www.boogiedownbaseball.mlblogs.com Jay

    I agree with you. There’s no way this happened b/c he was rushed. It’s as you said, it was brought on by lack of experience.

    We’re definitely in need of an arm. The rotation isn’t going to get us to October. Wang is just back from an injury. Moose is just coming back from an injury. Pettitte was injured in spring training. Who knows when Pavano will come back or if he’ll have the testicular fortitude to play. Hughes, out 6-8. Karstens-broken leg. Wright and Rasner- not going to cut it. Options are slim. They need to back the Brinks truck up to the Rocket’s house but i don’t even think that will be enough. I know a lot of people think it’s too early to get an arm via trade, but i think Cash has to try if this team wants to make it to the postseason.

    J

    http://www.boogiedownbaseball.mlblogs.com

  • atticas

    I was saying this last night, this might actually be a blessing in disguise. He only pitched 145 innings last year, and only around 230 in his entire professional career total. They wanted to limit him to around 170 innings or less this season, no matter what, so that he avoids Mark Prior / Kerry Wood status (and even look at what happened to Felix Hernandez). But then again, if he’s making pitches consistently the way he was last night, what do you do? Shut him down come September? Or stretch him through that and into the postseason where he’ll rack up around 200 IP?

    Now he has to take 4-6 weeks off, come up around June or at worst to the All-Star break (they’ve wanted to bring him up around June/July all along anyway), and he can finish out the season into the postseason (providing they make it there) with a reasonable number of innings.

  • Malcard89

    Quote Baseball America from a few years ago:
    “Hughes is a Mark Prior lite.”

    *Sigh* No kidding.

    But in all seriousness i agree with Mike. I admit i didnt want him brought up this soon, but something had to be done with this team. i was sick and tired of hearing the yankees announcers say 4 times this season (Igawa, Karstens, Rasner, and Wright) “this pitcher cant blow the fastball by hitters, so he has to locate perfectly if he’s going to get by.” we needed someone with a rifle arm and good secondary stuff, and hughes was the only pitcher that fit that description. that he got injured is extremely depressing, but i wouldnt have done things any different if i were Cashman.

    Does this make Clippard next in line for a callup? If not, how soon do you think he’ll be ready?

  • http://www.riveraveblues.com Joseph P.

    Pete Abraham makes a guess that it would be DeSalvo. He’s been lights out, and it would be his turn in the rotation Sunday.

  • A non mouse

    Oh Please. You guys look at his stuff and say he’s ready, but fail to consider that his *entire* body still needs to be strengthened. He may throw like a MLB’er, but he’s not conditioned as one. It was a mistake to bring him up so early. I’d rather lose the division one year than put our sickest prospect in a decade in harm’s way…

  • http://www.riveraveblues.com Ben

    This “his entire body needs to be strengthened” crap is wearing thin. It’s just an excuse to dump on the Yankees because a certain segment of the fans didn’t want to see Hughes brought up so soon and think that the Yanks can do no right. It’s pessimistic, and you sound like a Cubs or pre-2004 Red Sox fan. Give it a rest.

  • Jb

    Cashman on Mike and Mike this Morning

    Cashman on Hughes

    It wasn’t a “tweak or a cramp” — definitely a “pop” and when it’s a pop, it’s never good.

    “Too soon to really be definite about anything, but it isn’t good”

    “MRI when the he returns to NY in a couple days. Not going to rush through the rehab on the injury”

    Team otherwise is getting healthy

    Cashman on Clemens

    We’re interested in him and he knows we are interested in him. Respects his decision making process… knows it’s a private decision with his family, etc.

    He knows where we stand….has all the information from us.

    “We’d love to have him join us”…”would be a big morale boost with what we’ve been through lately”

  • Barry

    i doubt hughes will be out 6-8 or even 4-6 he’ll be back sooner than any estimates, hes not 40 yrs old you pull a hamstring when youre 20 it takes a week or two to fully recover