Rosenthal: Rockies interested in Phil Hughes as a reliever

July 14, 2013 by Mike Axisa 34 Comments

Via Ken Rosenthal (video link): The Rockies have interest in acquiring Phil Hughes, but they want him as a reliever and only if the price is right. The Yankees have been “aggressively pushing” the right-hander in recent weeks in hopes of landing a bat.

Hughes, 27, has a 4.57 ERA and 4.48 FIP in 18 starts this year, and he hasn’t pitched out of the bullpen regularly since 2009. Obviously his homerun issues would only be exacerbated in Coors Field, but that wouldn’t be the Yankees’ problem. The Rockies don’t have many realistically available bats to help New York outside of someone like Tyler Colvin (7 wRC+) and maybe infielder Jordan Pacheco (46 wRC+). Meh. The Yankees would be better off just sticking Hughes in the bullpen themselves in that case.

Blake

Yes lets just give Hughes away for reliever value at the “right price”. ….no thanks Rockies…..can we interest you in a Joba?
clu heywood

Hughes? In Colorado? As a reliever? They must like surrendering late inning home runs up there…
I’m One

This is not the time to be trading Phil, unless they get a good return. Right now, he’s one of the 5 starters. Upon the return of Phelps, perhaps it can be discussed a bit more seriously, and even more so if it’s determined that Pineda is ready to go in a big league assignment. Even then, he has value to the Yankees, even if that’s just in a BP role. I just don’t think they’ll get a return of equal value to what he has for them. That’s not to say they won’t move him, I just don’t see them getting much out of it.
Robinson Tilapia

Hughes would be worth more to the Yanks from here until the end of the season. I’m fine with them pushing him. You also don’t have to make a move for the sake of making one here.

Other teams are going to see mid/back rotation innings eater with occasional flashes of more, and other contenders will need someone like that in August and September when they’re looking to save their bullpens.

Of course, so will another team currently in contention named the New York Yankees.

You want him? I want a Top 100 prospect. Pay up.
- Steve
  
  It’s nice to want things
Pseudoyanks

I think the Rockies need to fire a scout.
- trr
  
  Heh-heh.
Mike

Unless the Yankees receive the equivalent of the draft pick compensation they would get for Hughes, there’s no point in trading him.
- Mike
  
  The draft pick is not guaranteed. To get that pick the Yankees would have to make Hughes a qualified offer which at this time appears to be close to $14 million for one year. If he was lights out the rest of the way then I could see the Yankees making such an offer. If he continues to be who he has been, not just this year but throughout his ML career, then I think the Yankees would not make that kind of offer to him. That is why they are looking into possible trades. At this point in time they probably know they would not the offer.
- radnom
  
  Give me a break, you can’t offer Phil a 1 year ~14MM contract. He just isn’t good enough. There will be no draft pick compensation.
  - http://www.twitter.com/matt__harris Matt :: Sec110
    
    yes you can, and you should. He will for sure get an offer from some team for more than 14 million, so it would be wise to get the pick.
    - Sweet Dick Willie
      
      He will for sure get an offer from some team for more than 14 million
      
      And you know this how?
      
      I agree with you that the Yanks should make him a qualifying offer.
      But there is a degree of risk involved. I don’t know what that degree is, but to state that it doesn’t exist is wrong.
    - Mac
      
      He has to turn down the QO before he gets any offers. I think it’s certainly a possibility they offer a QO and he turns it down, but it is definitely not a certainty. Have to see how he pitches down the stretch, how risk averse he is ($13-14 million is a lot to leave on the table for a year’s work), and what his strategy is (take a fat one year deal to try to build value or try to cash in now).
      - Bo Knows
        
        He’s also 27 yrs old, that in of itself is valuable, he could get an Edwin Jackson contract
        
        Mac
        
        It’s certainly possible. Hughes hasn’t had the success of Jackson, though. He’s at under 2/3 the fWAR the past four seasons compared to Jackson’s four before FA.
        
        Hardy
        
        Edwin Jackson got 1/11 in his first free agency.
  - JobaWockeeZ
    
    Don’t bother dude. There are people convince that he’s being underpaid if he accepts that
Dan

He’s more valuable to us in the rotation or his rightful place the bullpen. Plus I’m really looking forward to extending a qualifying offer to him and getting a draft pick when he signs in Arizona, San Diego, or San Francisco.
bilyball

Good article in Post advising Cashman plans on tendering Hughes after this season for 13 million which makes sense based on market and if some team sighs him we get compensation via draft pick. So if you trade him to a contender to help that team out down stretch you need quality prospects in return. Garza will fetch high end prospects and Hughes though not in same class is younger and in a National League Park can and I believe will Excel.
- kenthadley
  
  Need more first round picks like this year. Tender Phil, Grandy, Cano, Kuroda. Only trade if value is better. Probably sign Cano anyway, and Kuroda would probably either stay or go back to Japan, so we don’t get anything from that one. So Curtis and Phil get us 2 additional picks again in first round, at the minimum.
- trr
  
  Pretty much agree with this, I don’t think we’d get enough value back in a trade, unless the FO is able to pull off some heretofore unimaginable multi-team mega deal which Hughes is a part of…Hughes will probably benefit the team most be playing out the year here, then (hopefully) leaving via FA, yielding USA high draft pick
  - trr
    
    *us a … goddam auto correct
- Mac
  
  I would not take this to mean that they will or won’t make a QO. This is a very convenient time to plant that story with a local news outlet. That they’re both said to be shopping him aggressively and leaking info that they’ll made a QO would lead me to believe that they want to trade him, if I had to read something into it. And that makes a lot of sense. The QO is a risky bet. You don’t know how he will perform the rest of the season or whether he’ll take your offer to try to build more momentum going into free agency after next season. If you can get a return you consider worth a late first and a couple of months of Hughes now, that’s a better bet.
bilyball

Blockbuster trade for Troy Tulowitzki makes most sense to me. Trade Hughes, Nunez, Almonte and 2 high end prospect such as Sanchez and Austin. Tulo slots in a SS until Jeter returns. Arod career as Yankee is over.

Get it doneeeeeeeee
- Mike
  
  1. Col would never do that. 2. The Yankees wouldn’t do that. 3. What to do with Tulo when Jeter returns?
  - Dalek Jeter
    
    1. Force Trade is on, DUH. 2. LALALA I CAN’T HEAR YOU FOR TRADE IS ON. 3. Just go into Tulo’s player settings page and change his position to third, duh. God Mike, it’s almost like you never played MLB The Show. (I can only assume that billyball is talking about what he did in a video game, because there is no way you can convince a team to trade on of their franchise players. Trading Tulo out of Colorado would be the equivalent of trading Pedroia out of Boston, or Longoria, or Jeter. Also, trading 2 prospects, 2 lineup spots, and a member of the starting rotation for one injury prone superstar only would make sense in a video game where you could then turn around and replace Almonte with something better and then replace Tulo when he gets injured.)
Mike

Home Run Hughes…in THAT park?
Manny’s BanWagon

I think it comes down to whether the prospects the Yanks get back are superior to the draft pick they’ll get. Someone will offer him a multi year deal, though certainly at less than an AAV of $14 million and I would think Hughes would opt for the most guaranteed money so I think the Yanks would be smart in offering him a tender. Hughes isn’t stupid, I’m sure he realizes he needs to get away from the YS3 bandbox for the betterment of his career.
- Mac
  
  He theoretically has to make a decision on a QO before he knows what other teams are offering. I don’t know how much information leaks to agents “illegally,” but he doesn’t necessarily get to weigh a real multi-year deal against the QO. Even if info is leaked, a team is probably not going to be too anxious to disclose their willingness to pay or they’re compromising their leverage. He’s likely taking a leap of faith in turning down the QO.
  
  The trade return doesn’t really have to be as good as the pick. The pick is not a certainty. It’s dependent on how he finishes this season, how risk averse he is, and whether he wants to take a fat one year deal to try to build momentum to hit free agency a year later.
  The hurdle rate for the return is really Hughes for the rest of the season plus his expected value going forward, which is just the odds the Yankees ascribe to the three outcomes (nothing, pick, Hughes on a QO) multiplied by the value they ascribe to them.
Mac

While I am not advocating giving him away by any means, I’m not sure what value other people are ascribing him. I’m reading a I see him as potentially interchangeable with 3-5 other guys on the roster as a back-end SP if those guys are healthy. That’s not to say that he has no value, just that I think a trade return could easily have as much or more value. (It also might not and I’m not saying they definitely will trade him.)

They could offer a QO, but if you can get a haul now that you deem worth a supp pick and a couple of months of Hughes that’s a much safer bet. If you angle for the pick you’re somewhat dependent on Hughes pitching well down the stretch and turning down your QO rather than trying to build value on a fat one year deal. Things you have no control over determine the outcome there, while you are in the drivers seat with the trade. (Not even getting into whether you prefer a pick or a more proven commodity in return for Hughes, because that’s a lot more complex.)
your mom

Sure, but the asking price should be CarGo. . . . . . . .
Frank

Yanks definitely should off Hughes a QO but I’d say its 50/50 they do bc they’re so risk averse lately. At worst, they have a starter for one year at 14MM with Kuroda and petitte maybe not coming back so they’ll need pitching regardless. They’re not offering a long term deal so getting a draft pick is a must. Someone will likely offer him 4/44 or so as they should. Remember…he’s pitched in the al east his entire career. Move him to the NL and he could thrive.
Dicka24

I think it’s a virtual lock that Hughes gets a QO from the Yankees. Best case he declines, and we get a pick. Worst case he accepts, and the Yankees get him for 1 year, at age 28, for $14 million. Sure $14 million might be overpaying for Hughes, but it’s not like the Yankees won’t need a starter next year. As of right now they have CC as a staple, Kuroda and Pettitte as FA’s of which Kuroda is the only one that I see potentially returning (no guarantee), and a ton of questions in Nova, Phelps, and Pineda. Plus, the team could always eat $4-6 million and trade him for a prospect. A full season of Hughes for $8 million is worth something to a lot of teams in search of pitching, and afraid to drop big dollars on the FA market.

Think about this past offseason alone:

Joe Blanton – 2 years $15 million
Kyle Lohse – 3 years $33 million
Jeremy Guthrie – 3 years $25 million
Brandon McCarthy – 2 years $15.5 million
Ryan Dempster – 2 years $26.5 million

The going rate on the FA market for mediocre to marginal pitching, is high. A team would ship the Yanks a prospect of some decency for a years worth of Phil Hughes at $8 million. More interesting, is whether or not the acquiring team could then offer Hughes the QO at the end of next season, should he pitch well enough to warrant one. That would add a little incentive to any interested teams.
- Mac
  
  The difference between Hughes and someone you would actually pay $14 mill per year to might be more than a first round pick.
  
  It better be a very decent prospect if you are paying $6 million for him.