And the misuse of Phil Hughes continues…

Columns — By Tom K on August 20, 2009 3:36 am

This topic has been brought up many times, and I will start with this premise:   Overall, I am not dissatisfied with Joe Girardi as a manager.  I don’t think the Yankees found themselves the next great manager when they hired him; but they could have done much worse.      Compared to what I see other managers do, I am not sure if anything that Girardi does stands out as being well below average.

That said, what is going on with Phil Hughes at this moment is borderline lunacy.

In tonight’s game at Oakland, the Yankees held a 3-1 lead going into the 7th inning.  This was obviously not a “must win” game, but when you are leading in the 7th inning, you definitely want to put the other team away.       And Phil Hughes was the best choice to get through the two innings to win the game.  Heck, if everything was planned the way I was hoping it would be planned, Phil Hughes would have come in for Gaudin and pitched the 5th-8th.  But he isn’t conditioned to do that now, so it’s not even something they could consider even if they wanted to do just that.

Phil Hughes going into tonight pitched 5.2 innings in August….and, if you haven’t checked the calendar lately, August is closer to the end than the beginning.     So while the Yankees are cruising through the schedule, the pitcher that so many feel has been so valuable to their success has actually done very little lately.  (And this is the whole nature of the “starter vs. reliever” debate – he’s barely using Phil Hughes, and the Yankees are winning anyway. )

Now there are some reasons for this…most notably, Girardi obviously wants Phil Hughes available to him at all times.    A manager’s goal is to win – after all, it doesn’t mean anything to Girardi if Phil Hughes is a stud pitcher in three years if he isn’t around to witness it.   So, you aren’t going to see Girardi bring Hughes in for a few innings of an 11-1 blowout.     Tomorrow’s game may be 2-1, afterall – then what does he do?      Of course, that is a part of the problem – like many of his fellow managers, Girardi is using a “bullpen by the numbers” approach – that is, Hughes is his 8th inning guy when the Yankees have a 3-run lead or less.   And that’s it.     There’s no room for maneuvering.      No way to convince him that there are days when Alfredo Aceves, David Robertson and/or Phil Coke can get you through that big, bad 8th inning.       But Coke is now strictly used for lefties.  Robertson is a middle-leverage reliever not to be trusted when there is a hold or save on the line.   Aceves is the jack-of-all trades who I actually believe Girardi has handled fairly well (other than the ill-advised start in Minnesota).  The now-forgotten Brian Bruney?  He can give you an inning when the team is down by a run or two, or up by 25 or so.     Mark Melancon, when he was here, may as well have simply changed uniforms and pitched for the other guys.   Girardi wouldn’t have noticed.

But back to Hughes for a moment – it is inexcusable that he has now thrown 6.2 innings in August.   He should be used MORE right now, not less.   With Mariano battling a little bit of shoulder fatigue, you can use Hughes for two-inning saves.   Again, you obviously want to win now so you can rest players later…but, at the same time, you have to trust that you can have the best of both worlds:   Win now AND rest a Mariano Rivera from time to time.   After all, we cannot assume the team would lose if someone else was asked to close a game from time to time.

Hughes will likely get in his work in winter ball, and any innings are good innings.     However, I would rather see Hughes get his innings vs. competition that he is going to be facing next year, and for years after that.    Winter ball gives him the chance to stretch out his arm…what it doesn’t do is give him a chance to test just how good he can be vs. full major league lineups.        As I argued earlier this year, going to the minors would do nothing for Phil Hughes because he knows he can get those hitters out blindfolded.     I get the same feeling when I hear about him going to winter ball.  He’ll be pitching against hitters that are far less polished than he is.

The Yankees could have handled this differently – they could have placed Hughes in a role in the bullpen where he could get a lot of innings AND help his team.   However, that would have required more regular rest, which would require the coaching staff to actually think about how to use the bullpen on days he wasn’t available.     That just doesn’t fly in today’s game – managers love structure, and anything that goes against that structure will make their heads explode.

I just hope that, in the end, it isn’t Hughes’ career that ends up suffering.

Tags: Alfredo Aceves, Brian Bruney, Mariano Rivera, Mark Melancon, Phil Coke, Phil Hughes