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For the eighth time this season, Phil Hughes failed to make it past the fifth inning in a start – most in MLB. While C.C. Sabathia has been hurting the New York Yankees with his pitching, Hughes has been equally as bad, and it’s time for the Yankees put him on waivers.
In any normal baseball season, the Yankees would be able to have another player start in Hughes’ place, but this isn’t any normal baseball season – the Yankees have been dealing with more injuries than I can count.
David Phelps would likely be able to take his spot, but elbow soreness scratched him from his scheduled rehab start Sunday and now he’ll be seeing a doctor about his elbow on Monday.
Yankees fan have been waiting for the day that they can finally see Michael Pineda, the man the Yanks gave up Jesus Montero for, but shoulder soreness caused him to leave his start in Triple-A Scranton on Saturday, and he’ll also be heading to New York City to see a doctor.
So at the moment, the Yankees might not have the options they would like in order to replace him in the rotation, but it’s still time to put him out on waivers and just get rid of him.
There are a couple problems with waiving him, though. One, his value is not very high. If the Yanks were to trade him, they’d like to get something around the same value as the draft pick they would get for offering Hughes a qualifying offer this winter.
But on the other hand, the Yanks could be taking a big risk if they don’t get rid of him now. Imagine that Hughes actually accepts the qualifying offer the Yanks give him – they would lose out on the draft pick, and they’d be stuck with him for another year.
At this point, the Yankees just need to forget about the draft picks and look at what they really care about: winning baseball games.
Hughes is not helping them win baseball games. Over his last two outings, Hughes has given up 10 runs on 15 hits in only 6.2 innings. We all know that no matter how bad Sabathia pitches, the Yankees would never waive him. Hughes, on the other hand, should be waived and it should happen soon — before the Yanks fall any further from playoff contention.
Gavin Ewbank is a Yankees writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow @GavinEwbank2013 on Twitter for more Yankees talk.
