WHY DAVID PHELPS DESERVES HIS STARTING ROLE

It’s been a rough couple of weeks in Yankeeland with the surprising loss of Michael Pineda to the frustrating and ineffective starts of Phil Hughes and Freddy Garcia. The Yankees needed to restore order to the rotation, and after the latest crap outing by Garcia, read HERE, it was time... and not only that... Bleeding Yankee Blue nailed it... WOW, we're good.

Yesterday the Yankees announced that Freddy Garcia will be sent to the bullpen and David Phelps, Boy Wonder as BYB refers to him, will be the new 5th starter for the New York Yankees. he will start this Thursday, read HERE.  Not to shabby.

Look, there is no denying it, the Yankees' bullpen has been a bright spot, and that has a lot to do with David Phelps. But if you've read BYB lately, and I know you have, we've been looking for a reason to get David Phelps in the starting rotation and luckily for us, it's happening.  No disrespect to Freddy Garcia, but if you can't pitch yourself out of the second inning as a starter, do you really deserve to be there? As the long man in the pen, Phelps continues to limit the damage. If Phelps continues to deliver in tough situations as a starter, then all eyes will be on Phil Hughes to step up.

It’s hard to imagine this team without Phelps. His journey in the majors has already been an impressive one, but given the struggles of some of his teammates, did he really deserve to be ONLY a long man? No way. Phelps has made six big league appearances now, and after reviewing everything I noticed a common theme: he comes in after Hughes or Freddy have a bad outing. In five of these appearances for instance, he has pitched multiple innings. Considering that David Phelps has been taking over a game when a starter can’t get the job done….why not give him a chance as a starter? It just makes sense... and time is now. Sure, it may be a risky option but we could also keep Garcia there...no thanks.

One week ago, people thought BYB was nuts to suggest Phelps should be a starter for the Big team New York Yankees, but time changes everything and Garcia clearly needed to be relieved of his duties...it's business. Phelps has the experience to be a starter, that was what he was doing down in the minors before he made the team this past spring. The role of a long reliever was a new challenge for him and if he can come up to the big stage and succeed in a new role….why can’t he do it as a starter? He can, think about it. He went from pitching every five days to throwing on an irregular schedule and he has still been successful. The key to being a good pitcher is being able to adapt to situations, and this has been a good test for him.

I realize people may have their concerns about giving Phelps a start, but would it be wrong not to consider this given the starts we have seen from both Hughes and Freddy lately? Sure, Phelps didn’t have the greatest outings against the Red Sox or the Rangers, but he even admitted that and he made the adjustments necessary.  Phelps has a lot to offer, and if he can give the offense a good chance to get back in the game after a few innings in relief, imagine how much better our chances would be if we just had a clean start?

Bottom line,  I could not go another day watching Garcia start.  David Phelps has stepped up and David Phelps deserves a shot.  Usually I would say “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” however, something has to give here. I'm glad they gave it to the kid...hey, it can't hurt, right?

If you want some perspective on BYB's thought on Phelps, read:

WHY THERE'S A CLOUDY FUTURE FOR FREDDY

WHY DAVID PHELPS IS BOY WONDER

--Jeana Bellezza --BYB Writer and Editor

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