Aceves makes the most sense for the one pre ASB start. If this looks to be a long term issue with Wang, then you have to work Hughes back in there, I would think. Then again, maybe they are loving Hughes's shut down work out of the pen. With Hughes, Coke, Bruney, Aceves, and Mo, you can stand to "lose" one of Hughes or Aceves. Imagine that, the Yankees fixed their bullpen and all it took was 3/5ths of the Scranton starting rotation.

Quiet as it's kept, the Yankee bullpen now has four sub-3.00 ERAs in Rivera, Aceves, Coke and Robertson. And of course that's not counting Hughes, whose number is inflated by a few bad early starts, or Bruney, who may or may not be at full strength at this point. It wouldn't be a total shocker if this turned out to be their best overall pen since the days of Rivera / Mendoza / Nelson / Stanton / Lloyd.

No love for Sergio Mitre?

Mitre is not on the 40 man, they could dump Ransom I guess and eventually bring back Pena but i'm not sure they want to make a roster move yet.

Isn't Mitre suspended 50 games? Or was he able to serve that while not being on the 40-man?

Please dump Ransom. He's a 33-year old replacement level (being generous) player.

Isn't Mitre suspended 50 games? Or was he able to serve that while not being on the 40-man?

He finished it. 2-1, 3.26 at Scranton since he's been restored.

Aceves has been sick. His refusal to walk people makes him one of the most enjoyable pitchers on the team.

His refusal to walk people makes him one of the most enjoyable pitchers on the team.

Which arises from having a true curveball that he can actually throw for strikes. You would think that with the success of foreign-trained pitchers who use their curveball as a called-strike pitch (eg Aceves, El Duque), maybe some of the American guys would learn something other than a sinker and a slider.

zop,
The curveball was, as I understood it a few years back, supposed to be at the heart of the Yankees minor league pitching revival. Certainly it's part of Hughes's repetoire, although I feel it looked better before the injury in 2007. Joba uses it more as a show me pitch.

Anyone else really thinking this is a clear signal Phil Hughes is now officially and permanently a relief pitcher?

Anyone else really thinking this is a clear signal Phil Hughes is now officially and permanently a relief pitcher?

They say no, but they've also essentially admitted that Hughes *isn't* going to hit his innings mark this year, which essentially means he's pushed back next year as well, which is, well, stunningly short sighted.

Anyone else really thinking this is a clear signal Phil Hughes is now officially and permanently a relief pitcher?

No, b/c they don't need a 5th starter again until early August. I think he will be in the rotation if Wang can't make it back, and will be long term.

However, I think they are willing to slow his development a little in order to help then pen this year.

Anyone else really thinking this is a clear signal Phil Hughes is now officially and permanently a relief pitcher?

There's no guarantee that the 1st non-Hughes option works, so he still may start later in the season. The concern about not being sufficiently stretched out could be addressed with a couple of weeks of lead time.

Girardi thoughts ...

On Hughes: “I can say one thing, I don’t see us taking him out of that role right now. He’s probably less built up than anyone that we have so he will probably not be one of our options. … I see him staying in the bullpen.”

Hughes, down the road, is he still a starter?

“I still believe that he is a starter. You’ll see a lot of young pitchers that come up and have success in the bull pen and then the move them over to the rotation because on any given day you’re not asking too much from them in a sense. I think his stuff right now plays out well in both, but I think he’s been really, really good in the bullpen and has been really helpful to us, and that’s another reason that we might keep him there for a while. And the other thing is he’s not built up, and it’s tough to build them up here. You would have to send him down for a while and we’re not comfortable doing that right now with the way he’s throwing the baseball.”