Scranton looks to advance
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Sep 06, 2008 
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Triple-A Scranton has a 2-1 lead on Pawtucket in the first-round of the International League playoffs.
Phil Hughes is supposed to pitch tonight. But like everywhere else in the northeast, so I hear, heavy rains are expected.
This could have an impact on the Yankees to some degree. If Sidney Ponson gets knocked around again tonight, the Yankees would have to at least consider replacing him with Hughes.
In the short term, they can skip Ponson’s next turn to let Mike Mussina pitch on regular rest. But at some point, what is the upside of running Ponson back out there? Now that the Yankees are toast, at least use these remaining games to give guys like Hughes a chance to build some experience.
leave hughes where he is. let him come back next season and start.
At this point there is nothing meaningful he can do for the team, so let’s think more about his development for the future.
Exactly what is meant by ‘giving him a chance to build some experience’? Is experience what he is mainly lacking? Does he need more experience of getting shellacked? I am sincerely curious about what valuable experience we would hope for him to derive, at this point in his career and at this point in the ’08 season?
I agree Pete. There is nothing positive that comes out of letting guys like Rasner and Ponson start every 5 days….especially since they’ve been this bad.
Yankees Are Toast??????????????????
Mikee… yes, the 2008 season is over for the Yankees. They aren’t making the playoffs.
It’s appalling enough that Ponson is getting one last start, but they will defnitely skip him next week and by the time a # 5 is needed again on September 16th there should be a number of options that make a lot more sense.
Don’t see how on earth they get the Scranton game in tonight.
I am not suggesting anything derogatory about Hughes, by the way. As one who witnessed some early Koufax (as well as plenty of vintage Koufax) I am not predisposed to write off young pitchers too soon.
Mikee… yes, the 2008 season is over for the Yankees. They aren’t making the playoffs.
we need to focus on trying to finish ahead of tor.
From Pete’s game post last night:
“It has come to this: The Yankees trying to avoid being no-hit by a first-time starter for the worst team in the league.”
Am I the only one surprised that Pete doesn’t know who Morrow is?
Morrow is the Mariners’ Joba. Would anyone have been surprised if Joba did the same thing?
Hughes needs to lose weight and come back and pitch in shape next year.
Devil’s, Hughes is skinny. Last year he came in great shape, he worked out a lot and came early to Spring Training and worked harder than anyone else. I don’t get what you said.
LOL, Hughes needs to lose weight? That’s the problem? You sure you don’t mean Ponson? Just because it worked for Bruney doesn’t mean bulimia is the answer.
But I’d rather see Coke start over Ponson. Not that it matters at this point anyway…Ponson and Rasner both should have been kicked out of the rotation long ago. I never thought I’d say this, but maybe the Yanks should pick up Pavano’s option. He certainly doesn’t deserve it, but it would be another walk year, one where he doesn’t have surgery beforehand, so maybe he could provide half a year or even a year (*gasp*) of good back-of-the-rotation quality starts. It particularly seems like a good idea if they’re going to put Joba in the rotation next year and do the transition all over again.
Pete,
I sort of wonder if the Yanks don’t actually want to lose a good chunk of the remaining games (by pitching Ponson, and even worse, Rassner), so their 1st round pick is protected in next year’s draft, no matter who they sign as a FA.
The possible downside of losing enough of the remaining games is that it may make the Yanks less atractive to the Sabathia’s of the world, but it is at least an idea to consider…..
It doesn’t really matter at this point if Hughes comes up or not. He needs to work on his off speed pitches and he is already slated to go to fall ball. I would almost rather see someone else come up and give it a shot.
if phil really did have weight issues, we could nickname him Phil Huge…