[閒聊] Why sending Hughes to the minors is a waste
Why sending Hughes to the minors is a waste
By Mike Axisa
http://0rz.tw/XX3kJ
One of the ongoing themes of Spring Training has been Phil Hughes and the
possibility of being sent to the minors in 2010 to pile up innings. In his
Chan Ho Park post earlier this morning, Ben wrote about just that, so allow
me to excerpt…
「For the Yanks, the best AAA candidate would seem to be Phil Hughes. He has
an innings limit and should be working as a starter for as long as he can this
year. If that means starting the year at AAA and being the first arm called
up, that’s a risk I’d be willing to take. The Yanks could send Aceves down
and keep Hughes in the 8th inning role, but this move reeks of short-term
planning at the expense of long-term success. Last year, the Yanks’ pitchers
enjoyed unexpected health. Can we expect them to do it again this year?」
No, we can’t expect them to do it again this year, however keeping Hughes in
the bullpen to start the year isn’t just a short-term move. If a starter
were to go down, there’s Chad Gaudin, or Al Aceves, or Sergio Mitre, or Ivan
Nova to fill in. There’s no shortage of candidates to make a spot start or
three. However, if a starter were to go down for an extended period of time,
well then you can stretch Hughes out to start. There’s no reason it can’t
be done. Everyone’s all freaked out after Joba Chamberlain hurt his shoulder
in 2008, but that’s one data point in a sea of them. There’s no evidence
that moving back into the rotation caused Joba’s shoulder to bark. He’s a
pitcher, it could have started acting up for a million reasons.
Just last year, we watched Bobby Parnell, Justin Masterson, J.A. Happ, and
Scott Feldman start the season in the bullpen before moving to the rotation.
Jonathan Sanchez, Carlos Zambrano, Johan Santana, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt …
all those guys make the transition during the season as well. It can be
done. Pretty easily too. But I digress.
There’s several reasons the Yanks shouldn’t send Hughes down to the minors.
First off, he’s one of the seven or eight best pitchers in the organization,
top to bottom, and the best big league ready arms should always good north
when the club breaks camp. Secondly, the single most important thing a young
pitcher must learn how to do is get big leaguers out. That’s it. If he
can't get Major League hitters out, then he’s hurting the team. If Hughes’
spends the season in Triple-A Scranton getting stretched out in advance of
filling a rotation spot in 2011, then what do you have? You have a guy who
can give you 170 innings next year, but may or may not know how to pitch out
of jams and what not.
Sure, it sounds fine. He’d just be the fifth starter after all. Those guys
aren’t crucial. But what’s the alternative? Hughes spends the season in the
bullpen, at worst, and next year you’re looking at a guy who can give you
say, 130-140 innings that will probably be a bit better because he’s more
experienced. Hughes has nothing to learn in the minors, at all. He can throw
35 changeups a game, but big deal. Throwing changeups to in big league
situations is different than throwing them to minor leaguers. And there’s no
rule against throwing changeups out of the bullpen. He can still work on it.
Look, I want Phil Hughes to be a starter for the long haul as much as the
next guy. I just think that the minimal gain you get towards his future
innings limit is completely negated by missing out on all of that experience
against big leaguers. We know Hughes can go through a lineup three times,
he's done it his entire life in the minors. All he’s going to do in Triple-A
is spin his wheels. You don’t learn anything from carving guys up, you
learn from making mistakes and getting smacked around a bit. Keeping Hughes
in the Majors to start the year puts the best team on the field and is the
best thing for his development.
Frankly, I’m kind of astonished I had to write this post. There’s a lot of
dumb ideas tossed around in Spring Training because there’s nothing else to
talk about, and this is the perfect example of that.
--
You got to be careful if you don't know where you're going,
because you might not get there.
-- Yogi Berra
--
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