Goodbye To Hughes

(Ahh, the good old days... )

It's been a homestand full of finales and goodbyes, and it continues tonight when Phil Hughes takes the mound in place of CC Sabathia.  After having the rotation rearranged to remove him from what could have been an important series, Phil gets to step back on the Yankee Stadium mound one more time in what will in all likelihood be his final appearance as a New York Yankee.  Unsurprisingly, there's no pregame ceremony planned.  With the way Hughes' season has devolved, there's almost no point in even giving him the ball in the first place.


Between the Yankees' late season collapse and Hughes' subpar performance, there's next to nothing to even get excited about tonight.  Joe has totally neutered Hughes as a real starting pitcher by teaming him up with David Huff to be the co-5th starters in the rotation and then removing him from his last few starts at the very first sign of trouble.  Hughes has pitched 6.1 innings over his last 2 co-starts, giving up 3 ER on 7 hits, effectively ending any chance he had of being a real target on the FA market this offseason.

The Yankees certainly can't follow through on their original commitment to making him a qualifying offer because no team would give up a pick for Hughes now, and they can't afford to be saddled with a $14 million 5th starter next year.  The rest of MLB no longer has a reason to get worked up over the number of years and dollars they would offer Hughes if they are even still interested in doing so because of how unreliable and valueless the Yankees have made him look.  They've rearranged the rotation to skip him multiple times, removed him from the rotation entirely, and then put him back in as the lead part of a tandem starter tactic with the shortest leash imaginable.

If the last few months of Hughes haven't been enough to kill his market value, his career to date should do the job.  Hughes is a guy with a 4.71/4.49 ERA/FIP split as a starter, K and BB rates that don't pop off the page, and a spotty injury history that has limited him to only 1 full season of starts.  At this point, Hughes is more failed prospect than potential late bloomer, and his true value may lie as a relief pitcher.

So yeah, not much of a chance of tears being shed at The Stadium - where Hughes has a 4.91/4.81 career split as a starter - tonight when the fans say their goodbyes to Phil.  There might be a few scattered cheers when he takes the hill, most likely some boos when he gives up consecutive hits or puts runs on the board, and I'd bet a 37/63 split of cheers and boos when he leaves the mound sometime in the 3rd or 4th inning.  It's been a long, slow, frustrating fall from prospect grace for Phil, and one way or another we'll all be reminded of the organization's greatest pitching development failure.