WHY HUGHES ON THE DL IS A BAD MOVE

(photo: AP)
If you didn't know, you know now, Phil Hughes has been placed on the Disabled List. Read the story HERE.

After struggling in his third straight outing to start the season, the Yankees placed Hughes on the DL due to dead arm. Manager Joe Girardi said to ESPN New York:

"We just feel like he's going through a dead arm period, We don't feel that he's hurt."

Thus far this season in three outings Hughes has given up 16 earned runs in 10.1 innings pitched, that equates to a bloated 13.94 ERA. Ouch is an understatement. Hughes' fastball has been consistently 88-89, barely touching 90, and touching 91 just a very small handful of times. In his last outing against the Baltimore Orioles, he lasted just 4.1 innings, allowing five earned to a slumping Oriole offense. In the start his fastball reached an average velocity of 89 mph. This is obviously not the Phil Hughes Yankee Universe expected.

But here's the thing... Joe Girardi said that Hughes was going through a dead arm period, and that he wasn't hurt. But, everyone knows that when a pitcher has a dead arm period, a pitcher must pitch his way out of it. Now, we don't know if putting him on the DL will just be an excuse to send him down for minor league starts so he doesn't further hinder the ball club. Maybe that's the case. In fact, Mikey Blue from BYB wrote about this in WHY HUGHES NEEDS A TIME OUT. (photo: Getty)
The bottom line is the Yankees should not shut down Hughes at this point. He needs to continue to build his arm strength. Now, the Yankees do have a good alternative in Bartolo Colon. My guess is he'll get the start next week in Toronto, after all, he's earned it. Thus far Colon in three relief appearances, all of which relieved Hughes, has a very respectable 3.97 ERA in 11 innings, with his fastball consistently around 93 mph with good movement. Colon is a good bet to be that next guy, although they have young Hector Noesi in the wings. Stay Tuned.




--Jesse Schindler, BYB Guest Writer




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