If Sergio Mitre, a career below average pitcher (era+ 81, below average k/9 rates, just coming off tj surgery), is starting on a regular basis it should have meant that something went horribly wrong. And hopefully it is one or, at most, two starts.

Instead, while it might be the case that this is part of a “plan” that the front office does not wish to share with the public, on the surface the decision to move Hughes to the bullpen seems to be a really short-sighted one by the Yankees.

The bigger problem today is bullpen usage. Using “mix-and-match” logic, specific roles (teh 8th!!!) to manage the bullpen means that games today tend to depend upon weaker pitching, but only because of the increasing number of relievers that are required to manage the later innings.

In other words, bullpens are volatile because bullpen pitchers tend to be weaker in comparison to starting pitching. Instead of limiting the number of relievers you depend upon–by, for instance, not bringing two relievers into an inning simply because of “match-ups”–modern bullpen management has meant increasing the number of pitchers used in a game, requiring a larger number of pitchers to work out of the bullpen, requiring that teams fill the roster with weaker pitching. The consequence is that the bullpen takes on the appearance of importance that it does not have in actuality–namely, that it is more important than starting pitching.

The other (even poorer) option, if the logic of bullpen management is headed in this direction, is moving good, young pitchers into the bullpen.

I said this once before, but it was the last post of a thread, so I hope repeating it is not a problem. Consider what happened with Dave Righetti. While Hughes has not yet shown the results that Righetti did, it should remain an important historical lesson for all those who clamor to put good young starters in the bullpen. After winning Rookie of the Year in 1981 and pitching three above average seasons (age 22-24) to an ERA+ of 117 as a starter, the Yankees moved him to the bullpen when Gossage left and they had “too many” starters. He excelled there because, like Hughes and Joba, he was a good young pitcher. Then, they left him there. In 1984 and 1985 the Yankees had only one pitcher who had a better ERA+ than Righetti compiled during his tenure as a starter and in 1986, when he saved a then-record 46 games, they had just two. Given that Righetti’s numbers were improving–for instance, cutting his walk rate in half by his third season, increasing his strike outs each season–one can imagine that he had the potential to have been a front line starter by then. By 1990, Righetti’s age 31 season, no Yankee starter was above league average and they won only 67 games. With Righetti saving games in the pen, the Yankees came close to winning the division once, in 1985, but otherwise never had the starting pitching to win. Would starting Righetti have won the pennant? Maybe, maybe not. But it would have certainly improved the Yankees chances more than having Righetti in the bullpen, as is the case with both Hughes and Joba now.

In short, when you move good, young pitching into the bullpen you end up with Sergio Mitre and Andy Hawkins types in the rotation.

Even if that doesn’t happen, I’m betting that they pick up a reliever pre-deadline, and Hughes transitions to the rotation.