Hughes to start on Saturday

August 9, 2011 by Mike Axisa 33 Comments

Joe Girardi announced before today’s game that Phil Hughes will start on Saturday, which likely means that Freddy Garcia gets the ball on Sunday on two extra day’s rest. I was kinda surprised at how many people were worried that Hughes was in the bullpen for good, but this should make them feel better. anyway, I’m glad to see they’re giving the older guys some extra rest this month. It’s best for everyone.

YankeesJunkie

The six man rotation is killing me inside, but at least Hughes is still starting.
- bonestock94
  
  The biggest reason against a 6-man rotation is that it limits the starts of your better starters. But lets face it, CC is throwing a frightening amount of innings and Bartolo could certainly use the rest with his spotty past. I don’t hate it in this situation, especially considering the 99% chance of making the playoffs.
  - Colombo
    
    I think it is time to stop mentioning Bartolo’s “spotty past”. He had a shoulder injury that, through experimental procedures, has been fixed. No one should have any doubts about his ability to stay healthy for the rest of the year.
    - http://twitter.com/#!/AngeloInNY Angelo
      
      /logic fail
    - bonestock94
      
      Lets agree to disagree on that
      - Adam B.
        
        I agree to agree
    - http://www.twitter.com/dpatrickg Dirty Pena
      
      Why is “spotty past” in quotes? He pitched a total of 257.1 innings the previous 5 years.
  - CP
    
    The biggest reason against a 6-man rotation is that it limits the starts of your better starters.
    
    It’s much more important to have the better starters rested for the playoffs than it is to get one (or maybe 2) extra starts out of them in the regular season.
  - YankeesJunkie
    
    I don’t think he has thrown a frightening amount of innings. Actually this era has continued the trend of babying pitchers more and more especially once they are completely developed physically at around 25. CC is on pace to throw the same amount of pitches and starts that he has for the previous two years. In addition to that you have to look at pitchers individually and what they have done in each start and the amount of rest they have gotten. CC is nowhere near the point abusing his arm and looking at somewhat arbitrary number such as innings pitched without looking at other factors such as number of pitches and in what situation they thrown in you hurt your chances of winning games especially when you start worrying about in August. There is a time and place when resting and lining up your starter is more important and that is in September when you have a better idea what is going to happen for the upcoming playoffs, but when you have the 40 man roster to be able to rest your players without hurting the make up of the rest of the roster.
    - bonestock94
      
      I can’t really argue with that, makes sense. Although they may be willing to rest CC because they’re almost guaranteed a playoff spot, although I’d rather they play the Central winner vs the West winner.
    - CP
      
      This era of “babying” pitchers has also led to a resurgence of young, talented pitchers making it to the majors and being effective – and not injured. I don’t se any harm in giving CC the extra rest sine the Yankees are virtually guaranteed to make the playoffs. It won’t do any harm and could potentially help.
http://twitter.com/#!/AngeloInNY Angelo

People are just traumatized after what happened to Joba.
- Adam B.
  
  can you blame them?
  - Urban
    
    Yes.
- ROBTEN
  
  PTJS (Post-Traumatic Joba Syndrome)?
washerdreyer

Normally I hate rain outs, but if it lets us avoid an AJ start tonight, you guys think its worth it?
- Cris Pengiuci
  
  Not really. He’s got as good a shot as anyone of beating Haren. If he’s on, great. If he’s not, I’d rather lose the game with him pitching than get a good start from someone else and lose, especially if it means playing a doubleheader.
  - http://deleted Total Dominication
    
    Lol, he has as good a shot as anyone? He’s our worst starter, and the least likely to be really good.
    - JAG
      
      I think the point is, beating Haren is an uphill battle anyway, so a good showing from Nova or Colon or anyone else is likely to just be a waste unless they’re really, really good. So, Burnett is just as likely to be as good as needed to beat Haren, even though the odds of him pitching a merely solid start are less (b/c a merely solid start will likely not be enough).
      
      I’m not sure I agree with the logic, but essentially sacrificing your worst starter to line up your better guys against their worse guys isn’t the most terrible idea ever.
    - Cris Pengiuci
      
      Haren can be good or bad. So can AJ. If Haren’s good, what’s the likelyhood that anyone else beats him? If he’s bad, AJ may be just good enough (or on a short enough leash) to allow the team to win.
    - Will
      
      Hughes is the Yankees’ worst starter, according to both the numbers and the eye test.
Ross

“Joe Girardi announced before today’s game that Phil Hughes will start on Sunday” – I think you mean Saturday going by the headline
FIPster Doofus

I miss the days of looking forward to Hughes’ starts.
- bonestock94
  
  x2, the new Hughes bums me out
- vin
  
  Last April was glorious. He was so just mowing batters down with that high fastball.
- nick
  
  Same, although last week gave me some optimism (which was subsequently shot down when they had him relief sunday). Hopefully it works out and he gets it going, last week’s start was a good outing to build off of.
  
  If anything, maybe the low pitch count vs. white sox (65 pitches) and this mini lay-off helps him continue to get stronger.
Brandon

Big fan of this. He more than deserved another start, IMO. We cant go with a 6 man rotation for much longer though, IMO. What I am interested in is what happens if Nova and Hughes both have good starts again and Burnett stinks up the place again. They wont be able to take Hughes or Nova out of the rotation and they seem intent on keeping AJ in the rotation.
- vin
  
  AJ isn’t going anywhere. If this were the last year of his contract, then maybe they’d hide him in the bullpen, but it’s not.
  
  I’m fully on board with a 6 man rotation in August, and maybe the first week of September… even if it means a whopping 1 fewer start for CC. Not only is it reasonable to think that CC, Colon and Garcia can all benefit from a little extra rest, but it also might help AJ.
Bronx Byte

Meantime Burnett doesn’t get skipped. Where’s the logic ?
- Cris Pengiuci
  
  They’re not relying on him (yet) to be one of the top playoff starters. He probably gets his rest in the ALDS.
Gonzo

Good for Hughsie.
http://bleedingyankeeblue.com Jesse

I’m glad that Hughes will continue to start. Then it makes those Hughes to the bullpen guys shut up. Maybe we can see one more relief outing in maybe tomorrow’s game or thursday’s game just to keep his arm fresh. But i don’t think it matters a ton though.
http://thepinstripedbeat.sportsblognet.com/ Simon

Good, it’s better for Hughes to try and start on a regular basis.