A Different View of the Fifth Starter Race

As we know, both Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman have declared that Phil Hughes will be named the Yankees fifth starter, but Bryan Hoch reports that no decision have been made, and nothing will be determined until Friday.

The Yankees' most pressing issue of Spring Training will remain officially unsettled for at least one more day.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that "healthy discussions" were to get under way on Wednesday in deciding who will serve as the team's fifth starter heading into April, but it appears that the winner of the competition will be announced on Friday.

"You want to listen to all of the opinions before you really formulate an answer," Girardi said. "I think that's the proper thing to do."

...

"We're in a tough division, and [we want] what gives us the best chance for today, six weeks, 12 weeks," Girardi said. "But as you know, those things can change. That's the thing. We're going to make a decision, you go with it, you live with it and you move on."

Girardi said that the future would be considered as a major aspect of the process, a sign that the Yankees may be attempting to forecast the career paths of Chamberlain and Hughes in particular.

"You see how everyone feels that each decision will affect 2010, 2011, 2012," Girardi said. "You listen to all of those things. But obviously our first order of importance is 2010."

Honestly, I don't know what to think anymore. Some say Hughes is in, and now we're hearing no decisions have been made.

Who should we believe?

In my opinion the answer is nobody. We're hearing different things from different sources, and while Hughes seems to be in the lead let's just wait until tomorrow or Friday and we'll know which way the Yankees have decided to go.