2010, A-Rod, brian cashman, Joe Girardi, Yankees

Phil Hughes Joins 2010 Yankees Starting Rotation

Yankees starting rotation

Phil Hughes is ready

And then there was one- manager Joe Girardi announced that Phil Hughes would be the 2010 Yankees 5th starter. The DailySkew had previous went on record and said this should have been the choice from the beginning (although I would have not traded for Javier Vazquez, and would have had Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain in the rotation). Hughes’ changeup has improved and don’t be surprised if Phil Hughes has better stats than AJ Burnett, Andy Pettitte, and Javier Vazquez this year.

Of course, the irony is that Sergio Mitre and Alfredo Aceves has better ERAs than Phil Hughes, so I’m sure both pitchers secretly feel that the competition was rigged. I generally am OK with Joe Girardi and Dave Eiland manipulating the MEDIA, but in this case it was so obvious the job was for Hughes or Joba, that all they did was create an unecessary circus. They should have said, if Joba or Hughes struggle, it would be left to the other guys, instead of pretending it was a 5-man race. Speaking of that race, Chad Gaudin was given the pink slip by Brian Cashman: the New York Yankees decided to release Gaudin and pay a small portion of his salary instead of having him as an insurance policy to pitch as a starter in AAA for $3 million. They kinda treated Gaudin like Brett Tomko from last year. I’m pretty sure Chad will find his niche with another team and do OK.

Joba’s official status is so bad, too. Girardi is saying that Joba will be “competing to be the setup man” now, but also said that he sees Joba as a starter one day. I hope it’s not this year.

In other Yankees news, the local MEDIA has been covering the dumb A-Rod FBI meeting that never took place. WHO CARES about this anymore?

And perhaps you didn’t catch this embarassing Cashman move: THE YANKEES RETURNED JAMIE HOFFMAN TO THE DODGERS! “As a Rule 5 Draft pick, Hoffmann would have had to stay on the Yankees’ 25-man roster all season or be offered back to Los Angeles for half of the original $50,000 selection price.” Two problems with that- 1) that means the Yankees gave up Brian Bruney FOR FREE and 2) Hoffman and his rival Marcus Thames pretty much have the same Spring Training stats: they both batted around .100 (crap). So why choose Thames over Hoffman when they are both AAA material anyway?

FREE BRETT GARDNER and make him an everyday player, so we don’t have to worry about who the 5th outfielder is (as it stands now Randy Winn was promised playing time as the 4th outfielder).

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