Ricky Vaughn Comes Back
He could have done a lot better with the glasses and he certainly could have done better in the first inning, but it was good to see Phil Hughes on the mound at Yankee Stadium again tonight. I was thinking before the game about everything that had happened this year and I was wondering how you would have answered this question in March....
How many wins will Hughes, Kennedy and Wang combine for this season?
I probably would have said 35 and figured I was guessing on the low end.
Amazingly, they probably won't make it to 10, think about that when you look back at 2008.
The bigger question on Hughes is where we go from here. He would be scheduled to pitch Monday, but the Yankees are off and that is where it gets interesting. The Yankees want to get Mike Mussina 20 wins and the only way that happens is if he wins his last three starts. Those would be tomorrow, next Tuesday and Sunday. But, if he loses tomorrow, he won't get 20. So, the Yankees could then bump him to Wednesday and let Hughes start two more times.
Thinking about 2009, that is the best thing that can happen to this team. We can debate about bringing Moose back later, I think the Yankees need to figure out what they have in Hughes much more than anything else on their list. 3 starts in September won't do that (remember Ian Kennedy in 2007?) but it will help. Plus, Hughes is currently sitting at 75 innings total for 2008, He is going to the AFL where he might get 25 innings in the best case, so two more starts would bring him somehwere around 110 for the season. That would probably put him on an innings cap of 150 tops next season, something to think about when planning for 2009- which the Yankees should be doing a lot of already.
Comments
Looks to me like Aceves has earned the right to compete for a place in the rotation.
For next year, I can see Wang, Sheets or Burnett, then some combination of Hughes, Aceves, Kennedy and/or Mussina. I suspect that Andy is done ... although there will be a big sentimental push to do "something" with him.
I see Joba in the bullpen and hopefully staying there and being the next Mo Rivera.
From what I read, it's not going to be CC that gets signed as a Yankee - as he reportedly wants to stay on the left coast.
Posted by: Mitchell | September 21, 2008 12:32 AM |