Transition? Please. It’s called a swing man, and they’ve been in baseball forever…until now. Just look up Ramiro Mendoza, the last of his kind (maybe until Masterson).

And the Yankees would be unbelievably phenomenally lucky if they did not need a 6th starter in 10 of the next 121 games. First off, they need at least 5 to rest a healthy Joba, whom will not start more than 25. You really think all five of them will take every turn? THAT is optimistic to say the least.

But the math is a little off. He can only reasonably get 22 or so relief appearances with the 10 starts (incidentally, the starts do not need to be in a regular turn). So maybe he only gets up to 130 innings in the majors this regular season. Add that to the 19 he has in the minors, and the 10-15 he might pitch in the post-season, and your close. Add fall ball and you’re there.

Second, your math is optimistic to say the least. 10 starts (on regular rotation) is 50 games. Using something like the Joba rules to provide rest days roughly proportional to usage, it would take you about 80-90 additional games to get in 50 relief innings. There just isn’t that much season left (don’t look now, but there are only 121 games remaining).

Third, you completely ignore the fact that he would need time off to transition from one role to the next, not to mention that yo-yoing him would make him less likely to be able to go 5 or more innings in a start.

He could be working on stuff in the minors too, but being that he’d be the 7th or 8th best pitcher on the team, I prefer this.

He is not pitching 210 innings next year. No chance. There are rules other than Verducci’s, and Verducci himself would not suggest he would be injury-free throwing 210 innings at 24, then 240 innings at 25, then 270 innings at 26, etc.

It would be fine if Hughes tossed 150 during the regular season, and another 10-15 in the post-season. That would put him on target for 30 starts next year, and that’s all you need.