WHY I'D MOVE HUGHES TO THE PEN

(Photo: Getty)
Look, it’s still early I guess, and I guess Phil Hughes can still in fact "right" himself, but the last start that Hughes had was horrendous. People don’t realize that he let up 7 runs in that game pitching just 4.1 innings against the Athletics. Why did no one notice? Because we scored 17 runs so it didn’t matter. But the truth is, it does matter.

If Phil Hughes doesn’t get better, there is no way you can put him in the rotation down the stretch. “But Casey, what about his confidence? What about your Pyramid of Pitching Dominance? Doesn't he need to pitch through the bad to get to the good?” Good questions, you’re all geniuses. It’s true, you need guys who have been struggling to get their mechanics right to then pitch well and build confidence to eventually dominate. All true. My worry is the kid’s just not right. You can’t re-train this kid in July to be his old self by the Playoffs. It’s unfair to him, it’s unfair to the Yankees and definitely unfair to the fans.

(Photo: Getty)

I would suggest we work with Hughes out of the pen, this way we let him get some work in but we don’t overuse him and we build him up all the same. Andrew Marchand has a piece out today suggesting that Hughes is actually throwing less so he can eventually throw harder. Read it HERE. It’s a tough call I know, but it’s a call I’m willing to make. Plus, in my opinion, it can strength our pen a bit and at the same time, strengthen Hughes.

Look, I could be premature about this, for all I know, the next time he goes out to pitch, he could be lights out and that could be the start of something big. But Phil Hughes is a kid, he’s had some very big problems that shouldn’t happen so often to a young pitcher and it can taint a guy and nobody wants to see that happen to the Golden Boy. All I suggest is think about it Yanks, maybe it can benefit all of us, especially down the stretch. Yeah, it may not be ideal, but it sure is better than getting pummeled this late in the season and wondering what is wrong, don’t you think?

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