A Lot On The Line For Phil Hughes In 2013

(How much can Hughes make for himself in 2013?  Courtesy of Getty Images)

After a 2011 season that could only be called a complete disaster, Phil Hughes rebounded nicely in 2012.  He came into camp healthy and stayed that way for the entirety of the season on his way to a career high in starts (34) and innings pitched (201.0) between the regular and postseasons.  With other key members of the rotation either getting hurt (CC, Andy, Pineda) or flaming out (Nova), Hughes' mere presence in the lineup helped provide consistency and an extra innings eater, and after a rough April he actually pitched pretty well.

Earlier today, Chad Jennings, expanding on an idea originally included in a post by Joel Sherman last week, discussed the strange position Hughes finds himself in heading into 2013.  He's made himself a much more important part of the current and possibly future rotations after years of inconsistency and uncertainty, and at age 26 at season's start would be primed to earn himself a big payday in free agency next offseason.  He's also done/doing it during a time where the Yankees are tight with their money, and could very well price himself out of their range with a good year.  Complicating the matter even more are Hughes' spotty career totals and recent positive trends, the Yankees' own internal starting pitching questions, and the free agent market to be.

Updating The AB4AR Sh*t List For The Offseason

(Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate!)

Holy crap!  Have I really not updated the Shit List since before the playoffs started??  That's just simply unacceptable on my part and I apologize, but today seems like the perfect day to right that wrong.  The first day back at work after Christmas/New Year's is the worst.  Just the absolute pits.  From opening presents, laying around the house watching college bowl games, and partying it up every or every other night with your friends right back to the cubicle, an inbox full of moronic emails and (worse) follow-up emails from people who are too dumb to read your out-of-office reply, and pointless meetings to "get up to speed."  Guh.

You'll notice that this latest list is a far cry from the last version on September 26th.  For starters, Pedro Feliciano and Andruw Jones are both gone thanks to their contracts being up and them moving on to free agent life.  Congratulations, boys.  We'll miss you.  But there's still plenty of hate to go around, so as a small bit of catharsis on this the worst day of the still very new year, here's the first 2012-2013 offseason Shit List.