Hughes Getting Very Comfortable in the Pen

Here's a quote from Hughes about his new role, via Peter Abraham:

"I feel like I have more control, my stuff plays up a little bit," Hughes said. "It feels like a good fit for me. Who's to say what the future will be? Maybe this is what I do for the rest of my career."

Still, Hughes sees the big picture. He's only 23, he's still building up innings to the point where he can be a full-time starter, and he is happy to in the majors, regardless of the role:

"I feel the same way they do, I'm still a starter," he said. "But I'm only 23, I still have time. I wouldn't feel that way if I was 26, but I'm not. If I throw 100 innings this year and go into the rotation next season, we'll go from there. I think this is working out pretty well."

Hughes pointed out, quite correctly, that he has proven himself in the minors. He feels he is learning more pitching out of the bullpen in the majors than he would pitching every five days for Scranton.

"It's absolutely good for me. If I stayed in Triple-A, another year goes by without getting that confidence that I can get major-league hitters out," he said. "It's a completely different thing. Not to say they're pushovers there, but I know I can go there and have success and not be challenged as much. Being in those late-inning situations is tough."

And while the Yankees obviously want him back in the rotation at some point down the road, as M.A. Mehta reports they are in no hurry to make that happen.

"We do look at him as a starter," manager Joe Girardi said. "Right now, he's filling a void for us."

Hughes certainly has been impressive in his new role, allowing just two runs in 13 innings of relief (1.38 ERA) with 16 strikeouts and just two walks.

"He's a full-fledged reliever now," Girardi said with a laugh. "(We) won't hesitate to bring him in in any situation at this point."

The truth, of course, is that Hughes' future lies as a starter. The club has balanced their long-term desire to get Hughes' allotted innings with the immediate need to provide bullpen stability.

"It's hard," general manager Brian Cashman said. "The short-term goal is you got to win as many games as you possibly can so you can get into the postseason. The long-term case is that we need Phil to get stretched out and get some innings. So there's a collision there that we're having to deal with."

But don't expect Cashman, who admitted there isn't a sense of "desperation" when it comes to plugging holes in the bullpen now, to take Hughes out of his relief role anytime soon.

"I can't look Mariano Rivera in the face and say we're going to weaken your bullpen right now for the future," Cashman said. "It's a balancing act. It's a tough one. It's not easy. You just got to make the best choices every day. And you revisit it every day."

...

"If I ever decide to pull him (from the bullpen), I got to feel that I have someone ready that can go in that I feel comfortable enough with so I can stretch (Hughes) back out," Cashman said. "And I'm not right there yet."

For the time being, Hughes doesn't have any restrictions on how he'll be used out of the bullpen.

"I think he's very capable of being a two-inning, three-inning reliever for us," Girardi said. "I won't necessarily do that to build up his innings. I'll do it because I believe he can do it. And he'll do it well."

Hughes has been great out of the pen, and his stuff has been what we thought it was going to be when we all heard how great a prospect he was a few years ago. Remember all the talk about Hughes and his 95-96 mph fastball and plus-plus curveball? Well, we're seeing that now. We're also seeing a guy who finally isn't afraid to challenge hitters. That, maybe even more than the velocity, has turned him into a very good reliever.

It kind of reminds me a bit of how Joba pitched out of the pen compared to how he's now pitching as a starter. At times it really looks like he's afraid or can't throw strikes, while that was pretty much all he did coming out of the pen. Wth Joba I also think last year's shoulder tendinitis somehow sapped him of velocity, or maybe just sapped him from trying to throw his hardest. As you can see from this velocity chart from Fangraphs.com his stuff hasn't been the same since that game in Texas last August.


As you can see, his velocity last season as a starter was very good. His fastball averaged 95 mph and topped out at 97-98, even topping out at 100. Then there's the gap - his time on the DL - and he came back with the same kind of stuff as he has now, and that was when he was relieving at the end of the season. I would really love to know what's going through his head and why he can't regain that fastball.

Anyway, sorry for the Joba tangent.... Back to Hughes; I know last night bothered a lot of people, so to those people I ask, should Hughes be moved into the setup man role while Bruney finds himself, or maybe even permanently? If you ask me I say no. I like Hughes in the spot he's in, to me he's more valuable in a role that can change from two-three inning long man to one inning short-reliever.