Does Hughes Belong in the Bullpen?

I know I've lost plenty of people right off the bat with the title but its something you have to consider with him being as good as he's been in the bullpen. Especially since he has not been good at all as a starter.

It looks like we're heading into a repeat of the Joba Chamberlain debate. Does the young promising starter belong in the bullpen or the rotation? With Joba the answer seems obvious to me. A good starter is worth more than a great reliever. That's beyond argument and so far Joba has been a good ML starting pitcher with the potential to be a great one. Sure, he's hit his bumps in the road of late, but he's been mostly impressive. With Phil Hughes its different, though.

Hughes has a world of potential in front of him and he can still realize that. He has shown flashes of greatness as a starter and was pretty good in the rotation this year. Lets be honest though. Phil Hughes has not been a good ML starter so far. I'm not saying he can't be a good one in the future but he's spent parts of three years in the ML rotation and so far they have been poor, injury plagued years.

Right now its obvious that he's an absolutely filthy reliever. Hitters can't touch him when he can throw a mid to high 90's fastball and just focus on using his best pitches. He's a weapon for Girardi in much the same way that Mariano Rivera was for Joe Torre in 1996. That's not an exaggeration either. You've all seen the numbers. Nobody is disputing this. He won't keep up at this pace but its reasonable to expect him to continue to be at the level of a top tier reliever. Essentially, at equal value to an above average starting pitcher. So, the obvious question becomes, is Phil Hughes an above average starting pitcher?

Right now I think the answer is no. Can he become one? Yes, he can even become something better. However, is it worth that risk? All the injuries and his constant struggles add up after a while and as the scoreless innings out of the bullpen mount, it gets tougher to move him out of the 'pen. Not to mention the problems with innings limits and the fact that the Yankees have no shortage of young pitching prospects. Ivan Nova, George Kontos, Jeremy Bleich, Zack McAllister, and even that Ian Kennedy guy (remember him?) will be knocking on the door pretty soon. Personally, I think you try him one more time in the rotation. If he sticks then great, you've got a reliable pitcher and you can move on and forget all of this. However, if he gets hurt again next year or if he performs like he did in '08 you probably need to start grooming him as Mariano's successor.

Of course, he could switch back to the rotation later this year if Mitre struggles and then never return to the bullpen again. However, its an idea that really has to be considered with him being as dominant as he has been in the bullpen and as mediocre in the rotation as he has been.