Pregame notes: “Much better pitcher than he’s shown”
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Notes on May 01, 2012 
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The Yankees have already made one change to their rotation, and time is running out for Phil Hughes to make the case that he shouldn’t be the next to go.
“I don’t know how he thinks about it,” Joe Girardi said this afternoon. “I really just want him to focus on what he needs to do as opposed to focusing on who’s lingering. There are no guarantees. We expected Pineda to be in our rotation and look at what happened. I’m sure it’s probably on his mind some, but I’m sure what’s more on his mind is he’s probably frustrated with where he’s at right now, and probably believes he’s a much better pitcher than he’s shown, and probably wants to get there.”
Andy Pettitte will get at least one more minor league start before joining the big league rotation, but it’s clear that the Yankees plan to have him in their rotation fairly soon. CC Sabathia’s going nowhere, Hiroki Kuroda has pitched well lately and Ivan Nova hasn’t lost since the middle of last season. As long as everyone stays healthy, it seems natural that Pettitte will knock eight Hughes or David Phelps out of the mix.
Hughes enters tonight’s start with a 7.88 ERA. The current Orioles have hit .225/.254/.405 in their careers against him.
“I really believe it’s the location of his fastball,” Girardi said, “to where it’s not running back and he’s not missing over the thirds and in the middle as opposed to if you miss, you miss away or you miss in. I think that has a lot to do with it. … I think part of it is his mechanics, too, in a sense. That attack mode, his mechanics and being more aggressive. The idea is to put hitters on the defensive, get ahead of them and make quality pitches. If he feels he needs to be more in the attack mode to do that, then yeah. That’s what he did as a reliever. He was very successful as a reliever and I thought he brought that attitude as a starter when he came back in 2010.”
• Girardi said, as far as he knew, everything went as planned with Michael Pineda’s surgery. “I know the rehab doesn’t start right now, but it starts now, basically,” Girardi said. “We’re anxious to get this guy back. Now he’s on the road to recovery.”
• Brett Gardner is eligible to come off the disabled list on Thursday, but it’s now looking unlikely that he’ll actually be activated that day. The Yankees want him to play at least one minor league game before coming off the DL. “He’s supposed to do more stuff today,” Girardi said. “We’re going to see where he’s at after today. We’re starting to get to a point where Thursday might be a little doubtful just because he has to go play a game or two.”
• Although Nick Swisher wants to be back sooner rather than later, the Yankees aren’t counting on getting him back until at least a week has passed. Seems unlikely that he’ll be ready in Kansas City. He’s still a few days away from beginning baseball activities. “I believe we’ll have him back Tuesday,” Girardi said. “If we get him back sooner, would I be happy? Absolutely.”
• The Yankees face left-handed starters the first two days in Kansas City. Girardi said it’s possible Eduardo Nunez will be a regular outfielder for those days, but he might also need to give Derek Jeter a day off, which would almost certainly mean both Raul Ibanez and Andruw Jones in the same starting outfield.
• Why not start either Ibanez or Eric Chavez today? Right handers are hitting .333/.424/.514 against Brian Matusz this season. Left-handers are hitting .154/.214/.154. “It’s just kind of a way to get all my righties in the lineup,” Girardi said. Ibanez is the emergency catcher. He caught in the low minors.
• Freddy Garcia is available out of the bullpen tonight.
• Andy Pettitte has been testifying during the Roger Clemens trial today in Washington. Girardi said Pettitte migth get an extra day and make his next minor league start on Sunday rather than Saturday, and it’s unclear whether that will be his final minor league tuneup. “That has to be determined by the people that are watching him,” Girardi said. “I get reports, but my eyes aren’t on him to exactly know what’s going on.”
• According to The Associated Press, this was part of Pettitte’s testimony today: “Roger had mentioned to me that he had taken HGH,” Pettitte said. “And that it could help with recovery, and that’s really all I remember about the conversation.”
ORIOLES:
Endy Chavez LF
J.J. Hardy SS
Nick Markakis RF
Adam Jones CF
Matt Wieters C
Chris Davis 1B
Wilson Betemit 3B
Nick Johnson DH
Robert Andino 2B
Associated Press photos
The owners served the dish (half billion dollars for Arod and Tex). Cashman is in charge of the garnish. Let the cry session commence.
RayVT May 1st, 2012 at 5:20 pm
I think the “Real Phil Hughes” shows up today! 6-1/3 innings, 1 run, 1 BB, 5K. 90 pitches
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I’ll take that.
25 starts like those and he will win the Cy Young
If this Martin DH thing works out, maybe they’ll put Swisher on the DL and go with a 14-man pitching staff.
Which could be useful if Phil can’t get out of the 4th inning.
Oops
your mood clouds your cognition.
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Wow – cognition.
That’s like recognition, only singular.
CashmanLovesPsychoHookers May 1st, 2012 at 5:24 pm
C’mon! You take away all those bad starts & you have a great pitcher.
Actually he is extremely talented and I believe his lack of success lately is all in his head.
RayVT, Phil’s lack of success lately is in my head too.
But I’m pulling for him!
My biggest fear: the Yanks let Hughes walk and he masters a putaway pitch for some other team. He gets to two strikes readily, it’s just a matter of putting them away.
As much as I hated the Clemens parallel, it’s just the splitter that he’s lacking.
No, he’s not a better pitcher than he’s shown; if he were better, he’d have shown it. It doesn’t matter as I think Andy will not be long in coming.
Nick in SF May 1st, 2012 at 5:29 pm
Of that I totally agree! I think he is due to pitch well!
Go Huuuughes! Go Yanks!
If I was a betting man, I would probably take the Orioles tonight just as a value play. I mean, if I was a smarter betting man.
Last night, the Yankees were at -200 on the money line, which seems completely ridiculous for a Phil Hughes start right now. I’m not the only one who thought so, the current line on my site is -170, so it’s moved a good deal towards Showaltimore.
Putting actual money on Matusz? No way, José.
That’s part of the problem…. though it’s shown to be profitable over the course of a season, I can’t bring myself to actually bet against the Yankees, especially on a night like tonight.
i guess you would have to think that Balt is due and so is Matusz, however, the same argument can be made for Phil. Something has to give.
Oh geez, Pine Tar Night? What, is George going to come out of the dugout in KC and rehash his tantrum?
Nick in SF May 1st, 2012 at 5:40 pm
If I was a betting man, I would probably take the Orioles tonight just as a value play. I mean, if I was a smarter betting man.
Last night, the Yankees were at -200 on the money line, which seems completely ridiculous for a Phil Hughes start right now. I’m not the only one who thought so, the current line on my site is -170, so it’s moved a good deal towards Showaltimore.
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Back in the day when I used to place bets on baseball, this sort of game would “SCREAM” for me to take the Yankees based on the numbers you shared.
The focus on Hughes’ FB command is a diversion from the real issue, he has no real secondary pitches that hitters have to guard against. Send him down and have him work on that.
Ultra-sharp reverse value play?
Nick in SF May 1st, 2012 at 5:58 pm
Ultra-sharp reverse value play?
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i guess you can say that.
if the line started at -200 and has moved down to -170, that tells me to take the Yankees.
“(Phil Hughes is a) Much better pitcher than he’s shown”
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Assuming this means he’s better than what he’s shown THIS YEAR, that would actually be accurate.
THIS year, Hughes has pitched to an ERA near 8… For 75 career MLB starts, Hughes has been a guy who pitches to an ERA of 5.
So he is, in fact, better than he’s shown… Still not GOOD mind you… Just that he SHOULD, if past performances are the judge, be pitching to an ERA of 5 instead of an ERA of 7.88.
Hughes issues are location. He nit picks when he is ahead in the count and then comes back trying to get ks with high heat over the middle of the plate. I’ll say it again as well, I am not an expert on mechanics, but he seems to have lost some of the deception he used to have and he doesn’t seem to finish thru the motion like he used to. David Robertson is a perfect example about how his mechanics make his pitches deceptive. Hughes used to have alittle of that giving what hitters say is late explosion almost on the fastball. He also was more of a ground ball pitcher than fly out pitcher in the minors which I think since the hamstring he doesn’t seem to use his legs and finish hard like he used to bring the plane of his pitches down. He gets hit up in the zone and he seems not to fool anyone anymore with his curve which looked devistating at times.
Warning Track Power May 1st, 2012 at 5:25 pm
RayVT May 1st, 2012 at 5:20 pm
I think the “Real Phil Hughes” shows up today! 6-1/3 innings, 1 run, 1 BB, 5K. 90 pitches
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Only problem is, it’s been proven over a significant amount of time that’s anything BUT “the real Phil Hughes.” Now Hughes my pitch to that line tonight… But if he does, it will be because the-exception-to-the-rule Phil Hughes showed up.
“The REAL Phil Hughes” is a guy with a 5 ERA for 75 major league starts.
“The REAL Phil Hughes” is a guy with a 5 ERA for 75 major league starts.”
Bingo. He seems to be judged based on the “AJ” scale – people like his “stuff” (in his case, one pitch), so he is not accurately judged relative to his results.
He’s going to luck into a few good starts just with his good FB, and he probably will tonight against the free-swinging Orioles. It doesn’t address the long term concern with him and his inability to throw/develop secondary pitches. Classic case of missing the forest… if he does OK/respectable in the rotation, they’ll take it and be satisfied, rather than take the time/effort to try and revive his ace potential by sending him down.
win tonight = sweep
Nice break with Reimold not in the O’s lineup tonight. He has had a good year thus far.