Hughes risk didn’t pay for the Yankees
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc, Podcast on May 02, 2007 
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Here is my point on Phil Hughes:
The Yankees said on Feb. 12 when spring training started that they had this carefully laid out plan for him and he wouldn’t be going to the majors. They said the same exact thing when they sent him down in March. This plan was based on months of research and evaluation.
Then a bunch of guys got hurt and – whoosh – there went the plan.
Which is fine. That is their right and pro ball is pro ball. Sometimes you have to make adjustments. But that doesn’t make it a good idea.
The kid was pitching one hell of a game tonight. He was eight outs away from never having to buy another drink in his life. There’s Mark Teixeira 0-2 and waiting for the changeup that struck him out in the first inning. So Hughes was going to throw him the best curveball he had ever thrown.
Hughes told us stepped too far in an attempt to really get on top of the pitch and throw it low. His momentum carried him downward, he got off balance and he tore his hamstring. Next time, and hopefully there is a next time, he will throw the pitch the right way.
Yes, he hurt his hamstring in high school. He was a batter running to first.
It’s a shame the Yankees needed him this early. Hughes was so determined to prove himself that he ended up injured. It’s too bad he didn’t have four months of conditioning, weight training and long-tossing under his belt before he was trying to throw that pitch. Maybe his hammy would have survived it. Who knows?
Hughes said all the right things tonight. But the look on Brian Cashman’s face said it all. He was horrified. It could have been worse; it could have been an elbow or a shoulder. But it’s still pretty bad, Grade 2 at least. He will be out a couple of months at least.
Sure, this absolutely could have happened tonight in Scranton. But Scranton played Toledo tonight in front of 4,528 fans. Their No. 3 hitter was Timo Perez. Do you think Hughes would have looked at Timo Perez in the seventh inning and felt the same way he did against Mark Teixeira? Do you think he would have tried so hard that his mechanics got all out of whack?
By the way, Matt DeSalvo started tonight for Scranton and was good. He is 3-0, 1.05. I would guess he gets the start Sunday.
Here is Brian Cashman:
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And some of Phil Hughes when I got close enough to record it:
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thank you nostradamus
Countdown to conditioning coach being fired:
3 hours.
“Hughes told us stepped too far in an attempt to really get on top of the pitch and throw it low. His momentum carried him downward, he got off balance and he tore his hamstring. Next time, and hopefully there is a next time, he will throw the pitch the right way.”
I think you may be reading too much into his comments on this, Peter. For all you know, he had already “beared down” or however somebody wants to describe it, to “really get on top of a pitch” half a dozen or a dozen times before in the game.
I am unwilling to make the connection that Phil Hughes’s mindset going into the pitch —-> hamstring pull.
Does this mean he’s out till after the All-Star break? Longer?
There is no point of him being in the minors. Did you even watch the game today, Peter? What exactly is the point of him dominating in the minors when he can dominate in the majors?
This was a fluke injury. 9 times out of 10, it does not happen.
Cashman:
“This could have happened in Triple A. I don’t think being here is why it happened.”
are you telling me that pitch was the one time he decided to bear down and make a quality pitch. what about the other 19 other outs. did he not bear down then? and so what. what if the yankees waited as long as they possibly could and then brought him up when he was ‘ready’ are you telling me that he doesn’t ‘bear down’ again and do the exact same thing.
this is an example of why you bring on young pitchers in small incremental steps. injury from trying to do too much was a predictable consequence. the yankees were in a desperate situation which was exactly why it wasn’t the time for him to get his feet wet. there was no down side to him taking his time at triple a. earlier in the year torre said they would do what was best for some player concerning an injury and that doing that would be what was best for the yankees. likewise, if they had left hughes at scranton to develop on schedule it would have been better for him and better for the yankees.
Pete, you’re flat out wrong. This could have happened just as easily in the minors. Might as well have the guy get injured while helping the ML club get a win at a time when they need it than do this in the minors, when no one benefits. Look at the bright side: when we need him to win big games in September and October, he will likely still be well below your prescribed IPs for ’07 of 180.
Also, I know you hang out with those guys a lot, but please, please, please post an opinion once in a while that is different from what Sweeny and Tyler think.
Thanks.
Enough of the I told you sos. Mussina and Cano had hamstring pulls. Clemens had leg problems all the time. These things happen. If Hughes was called up three months from now instead of a week ago, he would have been trying just as hard to make that pitch. Sure, things change when pitching to major league players but there’s no reason to think things would have been different had he stayed in the minors a few months longer. The only reason to keep him down was because perhaps his stuff wasn’t major league ready–that he needed to improve his changeup- but I think he showed tonight that he was ready to pitch. It’s just unfortunate he got injured.
bye bye new strength guys
Charlie:
The up and down, inning to inning thing takes a certain toll on a pitcher. Hughes had not gone beyond six innings all season, so pitching into the 7th was a new plateau for him. Between that and the situation and trying to make that perfect pitch, it was the perfect storm.
It’s a real shame.
Cue everybody telling Peter he’s an idiot.
I don’t know why Hughes was hurt. Maybe it was the ahead-of-schedule start. Maybe it was a fluke. Maybe it was a rookie pushing himself too far. Maybe it was a demon hamstring. Maybe it was years of collective hate-energy from Boston. Maybe.
Hughes is hurt. He will be for a month or two. Hopefully the Yanks will just suck it up, and make May much better than April. Early in the season or not, they need a pretty excellent month here to stay in the game.
Everything else is just an argument over who was right. Who cares? If Pete’s right, Hughes is hurt. If the rest of you are right, Hughes is hurt.
“Next time, and hopefully there is a next time, he will throw the pitch the right way.”
What the hell is this supposed to mean?! You make it sound like he may never pitch again. Come on.
What I’m most concerned with is how recoverable this type of injury is. Is this something that will be a chronic problem for the rest of his career, or is it a freak thing that, given time, he’ll recover completely, and barring anything freakish or stupid, not have to worry about.
The kid is 20 years old. It’s not like he aged 15 years on the mound tonight. If he doesn’t work out this year, so be it, he’s got abotu 20 left in him. That is, of course, if this is a recoverable injury, and not something that will plague his career.
The funny thing is that just this week Pete was posting about the most important thing in the MLs (and in life) potentially just being “showing up.” There are plenty of guys who projected to be amazing ballplayers in high school and never played an inning in the MLs. It’s tough to stay healthy.
Just this spring, Baseball Prospectus was advocating calling guys up when they are ready because they are just as likely to get injured wherever they are playing at any moment in time, so you might as well have them playing and contributing to the ML club when they get injured.
When you have a pitcher who is clearly ready for ML competition, you bring him up. You don’t risk another single inning of injury in the minors, because there’s no guarantee he will have a 20-year career. It might be 10 years, 5 years, one year. This is a professional sport. These guys aren’t hanging out down in the minors for fun. They are in the minors to develop to the point where they can help the ML club. When they can help the ML club, you bring them up.
This isn’t a science experiment. This is a professional sport, and if Hughes was going to get injured, I am glad it happened in an ML park earning the ML team a victory.
Wow, hang in there Pete, I’ve never seen so many of the faithful turning on you…Even nyyfans.com isn’t happy with you tonight. The revelation that you might have been a Red Sox fan is hitting harder than when the Mighty Ducks found out Gordon Bombay had been a Hawk.
This is the dumbest thing I ever heard. He didn’t hurt his shoulder or elbow because he overthrew or because he was left in too long — he hurt his HAMSTRING on a fluke play. This endless “I told you so” is getting offensive. Hughes was showing just how dominant he could be — and his dominance PROVES he should have been up with the big club. Taking a false step does not mean his body wasn’t ready. It just means the Yankees have incredible bad luck this year and Hughes got hurt. This injury has nothing to do with him being up in the big leagues. Just stop this finger-wagging tone. Using the injury to the best pitching prospect in the organization to puff out your chest and tell everyone who you were right and they were wrong is childish and egocentric beyond description.
If you think they shouldn’t have brought him up, who did you want to pitch tonight, Chase Wright? If you think they shouldn’t have let him pitch into the 7th, would you have pulled him in the middle of a no hitter having thrown fewer than 80 pitches? You don’t have to be a genius to know that they had to do what they did. It’s unfortunate that he got hurt, but don’t try to sit there and say you saw this coming.
Oh I think Pete may have a valid point on the bearing down thing – leading to getting mechanically out of whack.
But I don’t see all this discussion of the risk of bringing Hughes up. Yeah, he’s pretty young, but older and stronger than Gooden was when he came up at 19 and he didn’t have so many arm or injury troubles – he made at least 25 starts in all but 1 of his first 10 seasons. The fact is the Yanks were pretty much out of options – the only realistic one being to delay Rasner’s Sat. AAA start and promote him for last night.
De Salvo’s not the right option for this team – he’s 5 starts removed from being dropped from the 40 man, is only averaging 5 innings per start (just what we need more of!), and while the ERA is great, he’s BB’d 13 in 25.2 innings, a stat not likely to improve with a promotion. And he has to be added back to the 40 – not that that option isn’t available. I’d say Rasner will be back (he’s now been gone the requisite 10 days) – he can be plugged in anytime this weekend if Wanger needs an extra day or 2 to heal. And of course Kei is probably back in the mix.
I understand you might be pulling for Matt – I hope he continues to rebound from last year too – but I don’t think he’s ready for NY yet. Rasner’s been even more effective in Scranton, and is on the 40 already. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Wright (Chase, not Jaret. Imagine if we’d kept him and the Unit – we’d be looking skyward for locusts and falling frogs.) back before DeSalvo got the call.
But let’s hope it doesn’t come to that – enough already!
Peter, what does it matter if it’s the 6th or 7th inning if he is within his pitch count? What difference does it make? If anything it shows he’s even more efficient on the ML level.
You keep mentioning a long time he’ll be out. From what I’ve seen, he is expected out 4-6 weeks, and you know this kid has pride. Now I understand this kid is the biggest thing since sliced bread, from the Yankees front office’s point of view, so they will not rush him at all.
Now, you are proposing he should be in the minors still. Great. How long should he stay there for? July? Hey, add 4-6 weeks to todays game, thats Early to late June. Hey, maybe they are extra careful with him, I hope they are, and let him rest 8 weeks just to be safe. That’s July 1st. Lets add maybe 2 weeks for rehab and all that good stuff, assuming that is not part of the 8 weeks. that’s July 14th, when he’s ready to pitch. Remind me, when did you want the Yankees to bring him up? July or so at earliest.
Phil Hughes was not going to pitch the entire season. His arm couldn’t handle it. Maybe it’s best that the Yankees have him in August/September/October…. when they really need him, instead of having him shutdown for the year in August/September…
Brandon: No worries. People misinterpret opinion and/or analysis all the time.
Two people can see the same event and draw different conclusions. Peter saw Hughes injury as proof that he didn’t belong here yet; I saw the preceding six innings as proof that he did. The Yanks looked at their major and minor league SP options and decided that Hughes gave them the best chance to win now. For six innings he made that decision look good. When a player is able to help the ML club win he should play, even though he will usually have some additional growth ahead. As noted in the other thread, in many other ML cities Hughes would have started the year in the ML rotation. This injury is unfortunate but the performance which preceded it justifies the decision to bring him up.
that’s not Brandon I’m Brandon what’s w/ the 2nd guy Pete ? so anyway I do agree the reason he got hurt was he was trying not to hang a pitch. Desalvo is my first choice I think possibly he 93 mph sinker I don’t know much about his fastball but he has better stuff than Rasner, I would like to see Chase Wright come back he pitched good in is 1st start back to AA.
And Pete I told you the Harden rumors were going to begin.
Why shouldn’t peter say he saw this coming? It’s not like he’s playing Monday morning QB – he voiced his concern over something like this from day one.
He wished him well, and spoke highly of him on a personal level but was consistent in his stance that this was a dangerous move.
Then he turns out to be right (very unfortunately) and people tell him NOT to say he saw this coming.
And to be honest, i did NOT think this would happen – I thought Phil would be fine. I was wrong.
Could this have happened in AAA? Anything CAN happen but IMO, it would have been much LESS likely to happen.
Luckily we can blame A-rod for the whole thing.
Cashman: Let me take you off the DL.
Carl: [with a small wave of his hand] You don’t need to take me off the DL.
Cashman: We don’t need to take him off the DL.
Carl: This isn’t the Pavano you are looking for.
Cashman: This isn’t the Pavano we are looking for.
Carl: He can go about his business.
Cashman: You can go about your business.
Carl: Send me my check
Cashman: Send his check… send it.
Over or Under: Hughes back at All-Star Break.
“The kid was pitching one hell of a game tonight. He was eight outs away from never having to buy another drink in his life. There’s Mark Teixeira 0-2 and waiting for the changeup that struck him out in the first inning. So Hughes was going to throw him the best curveball he had ever thrown.”
well, I gotta say, this sounds like Pete is the author of one of those baseball novels for boys I used to read: he’s inside Hughes’ head, he gives us the scenario, and the little lesson. Could it have happened this way? Sure, it’s possible–and it makes for a nice story. But it’s speculation, not journalism.
It’s a good thing he didn’t get to the 9th–he would’ve been so excited his arm would’ve fallen off!
if you want to see some interesting commentary, check out peter’s post on april 26th:
http://yankees.lhblogs.com/200.....g-reasons/
mike plugh of canyon of heroes on peter’s blog that day said,”we can baby him at the MLB level. We can watch his pitch counts and innings just as easily in the Bronx as we can in SWB …”
“Pitching at SWB does not, I repeat, does not in any way, shape, or form prepare a man to pitch in those conditions. You know what does?
Pitching to Frank Thomas in front of 50,000 fans”
i said ,”why throw him into this mess? you have a blue chip pitcher and you want to take a chance on asking too much of him.”
these two differing opinions were representaive of two opposing schools of thought.
we knew where peter came down then and we know it now. he told it straight and it turned out he was right.
no one is happy to say” i told you so”. this is a screwup that is historic and sad and upsetting to any yankee fan,and it didn’t have to happen. it’s that simple.
Pete – understnad hwy you can’t blog when you are on deadline – respect your opinion re Hughes.
“It’s too bad he didn’t have four months of conditioning, weight training and long-tossing under his belt before he was trying to throw that pitch. ….”
Depends which strength and conditioning coaches you are talking about.
Obviously not the new ones.
I was at the Toledo/Scranton game last night & DeSalvo looked great. My friend and I were wondering why HE didnt get the call up before Hughes!
Enough of the Abraham ball-washing. This is ridiculous. Apparently, his hamstring realized it was on a major league mound and decided to hurt itself. However, if he was still in AAA, his hamstring would have been content with being in Scranton.
Abraham is a good reporter, but his commentary and analysis are horrid.
I’m hearing nothing as serious as a Grade 2 strain. It’s probably a bit worse than Wang, but the thing I’m hearing consistently is 4-6 weeks. That puts him on track for a return in mid June, at the very most early July. That means that he’ll be making big league hitters look awful for three full months down the stretch. I think we all agree that based on what we saw tonight, he has to stay with the big club when he gets back. The Yankees will take it easy, but they tend to really go nuts with arm injuries. Unless Hughes develops a chronic hamstring problem, somthing I’m pretty sure only Carl Pavano is capable of, this won’t impact his long-term or short-term development.
Peter, your point is a reach.
Talk about being a revisionist here. Injuries happen in the game. You cant coddle guys with the talent Hughes obviously has and showed last night.
The I Told You So’s on a hamstring injury and laughable. If he blew out an elbow it would be one thing.
Agree with everyone else…Sorry, Pete. He could have pulled that hamstring anytime, anywhere. It’s just rotten luck, and watching that sneak preview of what could be to come was just amazing. Hughes is a beast.
You don’t deserve the hate, though, and are more than entitled to give your informed opinion. After all, it’s your blog.
as long as Phil is not brittle or plagued with a chronic hammy problem (unlikely!) this is just a blip on the radar.
the timing of the blip, however, really sucks!
I don’t think anyone is hating Pete. Can’t we all have a spirited discussion without someone accusing others of Hatred?
Or are we all supposed to agree with each other? Is this Russia?
I have to say, I felt awful when Hughes left the game, and I only started feeling better when I read the comments here.
The kid made his mark and gave us something to look forward to. His return.
Peter, give me a break. This is a 20 year old kid. He will heal quickly. This idea of “if there is a next time” is rediculous. I just hope this doesn’t scare the Yankees into holding him back now. He is obviously ready for the majors. HE HAD A NO HITTER GOING AGAINST A MLB TEAM. For all we know he got hurt because they have been too easy on him. Maybe that is why pitchers get hurt so often now.
Regardless of whether you think Hughes should have been called up or not, I think you can certainly justify Cashman and/or Torre needing to call him up. Their jobs are on the line and the Rasners and Karstens and Igawas were largely ineffective. Put yourself in Cashman’s shoes: What benefit is it to him (on an individual level, not an organizational level) to have Hughes in AAA all year when Cashman might be fired at the end of the season, and never get the chance to reap the benefits of Phil Hughes’s great arm? Obviously, some selfishness has to come in to play here. Now of course Cashman looks even worse for calling him up, but I find it perfectly understandable that he had to do it.
Pete, I love this blog, but when you say “and hopefully there is a next time” I think you’re being a bit too dramatic. Nothing has been indicated that this is career threatening. Personally, while you may have a point, the fact this same injury happened to Wang, Mussina, and Matsui means it could’ve happened anywhere to anybody. Even Clemens had some hamstring problems a couple times here.
DeSalvo walked 5 also Pete and he has STILL walked an inordinate amount of batters so far this year. I think Rasner gets the call.
You are reading waaaayyyyy too much into the quotes. He landed wrong, has zero to do with trying to get extra on a pitch. I have been a HS coach for a long time and I have never heard anyone say extend your lead leg further so you really get a good break on that curve. That’s ridiculous. If I had to bet, it happened like most hamstring injuries occur landing on uneven ground or landing in a hole. If it was his back leg your over exertion theory would be possible, but you can’t over exert the lead leg. But hey you have been pissing off Sox fans for a long time now, why not piss off Yankee fans with your pompus I told you so attitude.
Pete, I find your take on this maddening. On the one hand, you write that “you could see this coming a mile away,” implying it was somehow inevitable under the circumstances. Yet you also admit the injury “absolutely could have happened tonight in Scranton,” implying it had nothing to do with the particular circumstances of last night’s game.
Another thing: your suggestion that Hughes injured himself while trying to “impress” everybody, which supposedly wouldn’t have happened if he had been pitching in Scranton, ignores the fact that he had a no-hitter going. I may not know as much about baseball as you, but I’m pretty sure that ANY pitcher at ANY level who had a no-hitter going would be working pretty hard to keep it going. It has nothing to do with his age or what team he was pitching for.
I enjoy your blog but you do have an annoying tendency to abandon logic when it gets in the way of your preconceived opinions.
A grade two tear? How has that been determined without an MRI? Is that just your opinion? If so, other than a wild guess, what is your basis?
Also, if you REALLY listen to Hughes he most certainly did not imply he was trying to do something special on that pitch. I’d like to think he always tries to bury a curve when he’s ahead 0-2. If not, he’ll be giving up alot of homeruns on 0-2 hangers.
You say it is too bad he didn’t have 4 months of long toss, etc. Have no idea what you are talking about, with due respect. He was in Tampa with everyone else in February. How could he have been in better condition? Also, I heard Cashman interviewed this morning, and he didn’t say anything about “Grade 2 at least” or “two months at least”. They only know it was a “pop”. They are waiting for an MRI in NYC on Friday (don’t know why they are waiting).He did this in HS and Cashman said it took him 3 weeks then (though he does not think it will be that soon this time) Silver lining? Now we KNOW we have a No. 1 pitcher at age 20. We certainly thought so before, but now we KNOW.
Using Pete’s logic, the Yankees better have the jaws of life ready by the fifth inning because I don’t think any of the starters have gone that far all season! The idea that being rushed caused Hughe’s hammy to pop is simplistic at best. There is a lot of cutting edge work being done on the value (or non-value) of holding young pitchers back. Before reaching such a simple conclusion, I’d like to think one would avail themselves of it.
Most of the work done this far agrees with the idea of limiting innings in the minors in order to preserve a pitcher’s arm life at the big league level. Since throwing overhand is an unnatural motion, damage will inevitably be done. On a game by game basis, the system of PAP (Pitcher Abuse Points) basically divides up starts based on the number of pitches thrown into certain catagories of escalating danger. But there is almost no research that says that Hughes should have been held back. He’s steadily built arm strength since he finally had a season without random injuries in 2006, and he can handle a 100 pitch workload soon after he gets back. The most serious injury to his right arm that Hughes has ever suffered was a tired arm. Leg injuries cannot be prevented by restricting pitch counts. They can be suffered by jogging out of the dugout. Peter’s second guessing is baseless and idiotic.
Also, the plan to keep Hughes in the minors was not based on months of research and evaluation. It was an organizational decision to, if circumstances allowed, keep the gem of the minor league system and the pitching prospect with the highest ceiling since Ron Guidry from any possibility of harm or failure. But circumstances have changed, and bringing Hughes was the right decision. Clearly, his stuff and control is advanced enough to handle big league hitters. When he really finds his command, and those walks go down, you’ll be looking at a perenial Cy Young contender. The best thing about Hughes is that unlike most power pitchers, he also gets buckets of grounders in addition to his strikeouts. His home run rate is microscopic.
Please just let it go. The problem here is that you don’t seem to know the first thing about hamstring injuries. Yes, the Yankees had a plan for Hughes based on ‘months of research and evaluation.’ And none of it, not a single sentence, was concerned with hamstring injuries.
As your next post suggests, there’s much we can agree on. But you might want to check in with a trainer or a doctor or a high school athlete before any further hamstring discussion.
Abrahams your a douche.
Read This and you will know why:
http://www.riveraveblues.com/
Peter, I am amazed at the angst over this.
You were and ARE correct 100%.
The Yankees PANICKED and threw this kid into a situation at MLB level, with MLB pressure, and this culd have been avoided.
Shame on US and SHAME on OUR FANS for ragging on you for being RIGHT.
Hey Peter what if Timo Perez laid down a bunt and Hughes rushed for the ball to get the out at 1B and then pulled a hamstring? What if Hughes pulled a hamstring in any fielding scenario? Part of being a pitcher means fielding the ball as well as pitching it. Lemme guess, he should dog it to a ball because he can’t risk pulling a hamstring. What kind of message does that send to his teammates? “I’m more important than you so I don’t have to play as hard?” Since when did playing in the minors mean going easy or worse, not giving 100%? You seem to imply that if Perez had men on 1B and 2B i.e. the leadoff and #2 batters got on base, and it’s 3-2 Scranton, Hughes wouldn’t go after Perez with the same passion, vengeance, energy, whatever as he did with Texiera? I can’t and won’t believe it, and while I can’t speak for Hughes, I think I can make a fair guess and say he’d tell you, me, or anyone who reads and posts comments that he’s gonna go all out for any game at any level cuz it’s pure competitive nature.
‘Bottom line is you didn’t think “injury” say after 5 innings of no-hit ball, none of us did.
Hughes said he was trying to bury a curveball on Teixeira, because he didn’t want to hang it. I don’t know how this would be any different with AAA hitter. No pitcher wants to hang a curveball to a hitter on 0-2 count. The same sitation could have happened if Hughes had a no-no going into the 7th in AAA. The whole reasoning on how Hughes was rushed is horse crap. Last nights game proved he belongs.
With all due respect Mr. Abraham, or shall I say Dr. Abraham (clearly being a writer for the Journal News and lohud.com qualifies you to make a medical diagnosis – “a few months at least”) your blog today was horrible. I know there is Monday morning quarterbacking, but you took it way past that. You have no idea if this would have happened to Hughes or not anywhere else. What if at AAA he slipped covering first because the field was not in major league condition, what if (in trying to get ontop of that same curve) he slid on a AAA mound because it was damp from rain the night before? Are my arguments ridiculous, yea, I though so, however yours is no different.
Get a grip my friend…
The other bright side, that no one has mentioned so far (in all my reading on the subject), is that the Yankees were going to limit Hughes to 180 innings between the minors and majors anyway. If he had become a legitimate member of the rotation then they were going to have a serious problem on their hands by mid-september as to whether to let him exceed 200 or 220 innings (before his arm is ready to do so). Shutting him down now for 6 or even 8 weeks virtually guarantees that he won’t reach 180 innings even if they win the world series. That way, they can increase his work load 20 innings next season, and 20 more the following year, until he can handle 220-230 innings per year. Clearly, when you’re talking about a serious major league talent like Phil Hughes the danger isn’t that he doesn’t come back soon enough in 2007 and the Yanks can’t win the division. The danger is that they rush him back into action and he hurts his arm while compensating for the leg and he screws up a 15 year career as a #1 starter. That’s why it’s important to make sure that a lot of things happen before he comes back. You have to ensure that he’s healthy, let him throw off flat ground, let him throw off a mound, get him to pitch simulated games, let him pitch 3 innings in minor league starts, etc., etc., to not only make sure that the leg is healthy, but more importantly to build up that arm strength.
I gotta tell you guys, I was also worried after inning number 6 that they were going to be sentimental about the whole thing and let Hughes try to pitch a no-hitter. He really didn’t need to be pitching a 9 inning complete game at 20 years old. I guess I am an optimist, but I see the forest for the trees in this whole thing and I see that this really could be a blessing in disguise as much as it doesn’t look like one right now.
Interesting times for the Yankees. With all of the leg and back injuries plagueing the team, the new strength and conditioning people are being scrutinised as possible contributing factors. Carry this 1 step further, suppose they are primarily responcible ? Does the future bring a continue string of injuries ? It they are replaced, will there be injuries as players adjust to a new regimen ? Oh and it has been whispered that these guys had convinced Pettite to lift weights without his customary weight belt, causing him to cut short his workout when he felt back spasms….. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
As for Hughes- he was called up because the Yankees were out of realistic options- plain and simple. He pitched ok in his first start and DOMINATED in his 2nd. His curveball was excellent, fastball well placed and changeup surprisingly good. But where was the 96mph FB we have heard so much about ? ESPN gun was only showing 91-92… Now he is hurt and will be out for at least 4 weeks. Whether this would have happenened in Scranton is anyones guess. There was no reason whatsoever to have pulled him after 6ip. Pitch count was low and he was throwing a No No. The real question is what if he was at 110 pitches after 8 innings and still throwing a No No ?
Post game Hughes said he over extended his right leg, trying to get a firm plant so that he can get on top of his curve ball. OK- he tried to make a perfect pitch. Why did this 1 action appearantly cause an injury ?
What if his mechanics were different in ’07 compared to years past ? Take a look at this link and decide for yourself:
http://www.hardballtimes.com/m.....l-changes/
Best,
Ross
Pete, I’m not going to add to the pile here, but by now you figure that the majority comments say that you’re wrong, to which I agree. Injuries happen. Lots of injuries happen to the Yankees this year, and I must spread that blame to their conditioning team, which just got fired, thankfully.
As far as rotation fillers are concerned, Pettitte, Mussina, and Igawa will be suppplemented by Rasner or Chase Wright, and hopefully Wang will return, otherwise one of those 2 will get to stay for another start. Long term, I see some trades coming. Farnsworth and Myers could go bye-bye, and be replaced by bodies from the minors (Rasner, Bean, TJ Beam, etc.), and Nieves and Minky’s days are numbered. A real backup catcher with a future is needed…can you say Atlanta AA prospect, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, to back up and eventually replace Posada.