Phil Hughes came to The Bronx as a symbol of a new Yankees direction, and he occasionally has justified the hype that accompanied him. Yet, as he absorbed a Stadium full of boos yesterday, the truth became as clear as the blue sky:
This scholarship is coming to an end. Potential doesn’t pay the bills in the American League East. If Hughes can’t improve his results shortly, he will be out of the Yankees’ starting rotation and, quite possibly, out of their future altogether.
“Things just haven’t gone the way I would have liked,” Hughes said after a 7-1 loss to the Angels. “I just have to keep working hard to get things right.”
When the ultra-careful Joe Girardi says, “We’re going to have to make an evaluation” of his starting rotation, as the manager did yesterday morning, then you know job security isn’t at a premium here. Andy Pettitte will pitch again today for Class-A Tampa, and Michael Pineda has started throwing off a mound in his rehabilitation from right shoulder injury.
Something’s got to give. And Hughes, two starts into what was supposed to be his rebound season, is giving up way too much to the opposition. After getting hammered by the Angels for six runs, eight hits and two walks in 3 1/3 innings, the 25-year-old owns a 9.00 ERA in eight innings over two starts.
“His arm strength is there,” Girardi said, and Hughes’ fastball averaged over 92 mph and topped out at 94, according to the PitchFX data. The right-hander struck out six, over half of his 10 outs.
Nevertheless, as Girardi said of Hughes, “He got some strikeouts on pitches up in the zone, but he got hurt up in the zone.”
A failure to put hitters away has been a recurring trend. Three of the hits and one walk yesterday came after Hughes had jumped ahead either 0-and-2 or 1-and-2.
Velocity, Hughes noted, is “only one piece of the puzzle,” a reality the Yankees have learned repeatedly with their prodigal pitcher.
The Yankees selected Hughes in the first round of the 2004 amateur draft, before general manager Brian Cashman took over full control of the club’s baseball operations. That occurred after the 2005 campaign, and Hughes became the golden child of the farm system Cashman re-emphasized to ownership and the fan base.
We saw highly publicized pitch counts and innings counts in the minors, followed by the same in the majors. In between, Cashman held onto Hughes rather than trade him to Minnesota for Johan Santana. The commitment paid off with Hughes’ rookie help in 2007, his excellence as a setup man in 2009 and his All-Star first half in 2010.
He fizzled in the second half of ’10, and last year, when he reported to camp overweight and suffered a right shoulder injury that sapped him of his velocity. A wasted season, in all. One that counts as service time, however, and impacts Hughes’ current salary ($3.2 million) and free-agent calendar (after 2013).
That means the Yankees won’t stand to pay Hughes beyond 2012 as a long-term development project. The existence of Pettitte and Pineda means they won’t wait patiently now for Hughes to solve himself. He could wind up in the bullpen, in the minor leagues or traded to another club.
“What is it, April 14?” Girardi asked. “Talking about our rotation at 4-4? We’re not 0-8. People are getting a little bit ahead of themselves.”
They would be if we were talking about CC Sabathia. Instead, we’re discussing a young man who hasn’t posted acceptable numbers for too long. And a team that could have superior options by the start of May.
Asked if the starting rotation competition had entered his thoughts, Hughes responded, “Not yet. Not yet right now, no.”
Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to start thinking about that stuff. The golden child can’t get by on what might be for much longer. What Hughes actually is, needs to get better, real soon.
