Who's Next in Line? The Bullpen

The second in this series of posts. There is a very good chance that the next starter will be be one of the former starters currently in the major league bullpen. Their are a few positives to pulling a guy out of the bullpen in that no roster finagling is required because everyone is obviously on the 40 man roster. The cons are equally obvious, chief among them is that they'd lose one of their most effective relievers. Here's what the Yankees have to be looking at there.

Phil Hughes - There are some people that think he should be in the rotation tomorrow. His future still appears to include starting and he projects to be one of the starting five next year. Earlier in the year he struggled as a starter. He was good and bad but other than one exceptionally awful start, he was mostly good. Of the in house options he is probably the best man for the job. However, he has been so ridiculously good in the bullpen its really tough to move him. Is he a good enough starter to match his value as an outstanding reliever? It a tough call.

Alfredo Aceves- They already experimented with Aceves starting a game last month and he hasn't been the same since. Something tells me they're going to be hesitant to do that again. Although, he was extremely impressive for a few spot starts last year in September it looks like his home is in the bullpen. Aceves doesn't have the impressive ceiling of Hughes or Joba and, until recently, has been a critical cog in the bullpen. His ability to shut down a team for two or three innings every few times out would be sorely missed. He wouldn't be missed as much as Hughes but he probably wouldn't be as good a starter either.

Phil Coke- I know most fans have already forgotten, or never knew that Coke was a starter but he was. Until late last year he was pretty much the only notable lefty starter the Yankees had in their system. Although never really regarded as having a serious chance at sticking in the big league rotation, he put up some nice minor league numbers. Last year in 118.1 innings as a starter in AA he put up an FIP of 3.01, in 17.1 AAA innings it was 1.53. Besides that, he wouldn't missed nearly as much as Aceves or Hughes in the bullpen. On the other hand, you can't really expect him to be better in the rotation than in the bullpen and he hasn't been any better than mediocre in the bullpen. I'd shocked if they went with him in the end.

The final part will come tomorrow morning.

Game thread below.