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OK, I love Kuroda again. Hugghes on the other hand, I can CONFIDENTLY say is a complete waste of life.
I NEVER saw anything in this guy when he was a top prospect blah blah....my bly Cappy used to come on here and tell me about his 4 + pitches. Again, I must have been blind...All I ever saw was a 91 mph fastball and a pretty good curve.
He was outstanding in the pen in 09, and the first half of '10..... Nowhere near since. He's running out of time. Glad Andy's back.
I don't think I ever said four plus pitches. 3 plus pitches, sure. Thing is, he got away from his good curve the past three years, and his fastball has been hit or miss. Good pitch in the minors and in '07. Shitty in '08. Good in '09. Great in '10. Awful last year. He finally brought the old curve back this year, and it does look tighter and should be more effective. I'm not going to overreact to two iffy starts, but that said, I haven't been particularly impressed with Hughes' game above the neck. Not that you need to be in Mensa to throw a baseball well, but boy, he gets into some dumb sequences. I don't know if that's an artifact of not having enough confidence in his other pitches to mix things up more or what, but it's baffling to me. More that any raw talent, the two things scouts always touted about Hughes were his composure/maturity, and his command. Neither of those aspects have proven to be particularly accurate. Not consistently, anyway. I'd prefer to see him get two full, healthy seasons in the rotation under his belt before making any final conclusions, but at the same time, you gotta cut bait at some point.
I know I said Joba could have four plus pitches if he developed his changeup. (His curve was solid.) And I might have said something about Hughes in '10 having four if he ever continued to work on his change. But whatever. The thing is, a plus pitch doesn't always stay a plus pitch. Hughes' fastball was crap last year. His curve got all loopy when he went to the knuckle curve. His cutter became predictable/hittable. Mostly, though, it's been his command in the zone. The most important thing for a young pitcher to have, and Hughes supposedly had it. We've seen glimpses of it. But, man, has it been inconsistent.
yup....just so disappointing because we havent had too many pitches who ranked so high on all the scouts lists in the last 25 years. Oh well...hopefully the killer Bs work out better than this 6 foot 5 homo or however big he is
It's funny how the Yanks have better pitchers in the minors (I always liked Noesi, Warren and Phelps) yet someone like Phil Hughes gets unlimited lives. Noesi should have been our 5th starter this year. I don't trust Nova, but Noesi should have at least had a chance to start for us. But I guess since Hughes has a 92 mph fastball he keeps getting another shot. For the record I'm not a Nova fan.
I've been saying since 2010 that Hughes is a poor starter. He's so predictable and fun to fade. Hughes needs to be sent down and be prepared for a long overdue return to the bullpen. Since the beginning of the 2010 season, when he strung together some effective starts, he's been the worst starting pitcher in baseball to keep his spot in the rotation (aside from when he was injured last season, of course).
