jacksonianmarch

interesting. Looks like Lester has been figured out. Teams are hitting the s*** out of him on the first pitch. Either he needs to alter his approach or he needs to find the corners more on pitch #1

Per rotoworld. That would be huge. i would assume that spells the end of Cervelli in NY for the time being. I would think they would send him to AAA to start and the yankees would keep Cash until Molina comes back.

I dont think they do allow for injury. I havent found anything there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_agent

http://www.sportscity.com/MLB/Type-A-Type-B-MLB-Free-Agent-Rankings-Explanation/ Its two seasons

Wang stays in the pen until he feels comfortable with his delivery and gets that sink on the ball that he used to. Thats the problem with one pitch pitchers. If that pitch were to ever have a decline in effectiveness, the overall production from that pitcher will plummet.

they may show interest, but the question is, what will you get back? I dont think any team would give up too much at this point. Now, if he continues what he's doing this month (4.40ERA vs 8+ in April) then they might be able to drag something important out of him.

his trade value still isnt very good BSN. Remember, he is putting up exactly what the sox need. Right around a quality start. 6IP 4ER, 5.1IP 3ER, etc. Thats great for the sox at a #5 slot. But that wont fetch much on the open market.

I think the sox are doing what the yankees hoped to do with Hughes. Leave him in AAA no matter how awesome he was doing. Remember, they tinkered with Buch last yr and it showed in his production. Now, he's just killing teams, but it could easily go awry on him. Remember, he wasnt the toughest kid in the bunch. I honestly think they got Penny and Smoltz to buy one extra yr on him. Take the pressure off. And its working. There isnt a need for him to go to the bigs this yr, especially since Masterson could easily swing right back into the starting role.

5.1IP 3ER. Thats all he needs to do out of that #5 hole and the sox would love him for it.

If you look around baseball, teams try to experiment with their #5 position. If they find something, then great. If they dont, then they can live with a s***** performance 1 out of every 5 times through the rotation until they get it right. I'd say, right now, Hughes is a good #5 starter. I think that his last 2 starts have been encouraging to say the least (13IP 9H 3ER 2BB 15K). And he's had one absolutely ridiculously miserable start that is skewing his stats. I know its difficult to pull one start out of the mix, but lets take that one start against the O's out, and his line looks pretty good... 28IP 24H 9ER 12BB 25K (2.89ERA 1.29WHIP 2.1K/BB 8K/9IP)

For some examples... The O's #5 was Adam Eaton before they released him this week. His ERA was 8.56 The Sox #5 is Brad Penny. His ERA is 5.96 The Rays #5 is Jeff Niemann. His ERA is 4.53. The Jays really dont have a #5, as they have 6 pitchers outside of Richmond, Halladay, Litsch, and Tallet who have made starts in the #5 hole (or replacing Litsch) The White Sox #5 is Colon, and his ERA is 4.23, but has a 1.59WHIP The Guardians have used Laffey, Sowers, Huff and Lewis in the #5 hole, and their composite ERA is in the 7 range The Royals #5 is a Ponson, Hochevar split, and their ERAs are 6.49 and 10.80 respectively The Tigers #5 slot is split between Miner and Willis, and while their composite ERA is in the low 4s, their WHIP combined is 1.65. Glen Perkins is the #5 in Minny and his ERA is 5.35. The Angels #5 is Shane Loux and his 5.40 ERA The A's #5 was Dana Eveland and his 7.40ERA The Mariners #5 is Jakubauskas and his 6.45ERA The composite ERA for the Rangers #5's is 5.24. As you can see, Hughes' ERA beats most of them, and if his ERA doesnt, his WHIP does.

Nah, just take a look around the league at the slated #5. I was shocked last yr to see how bad a true #5 is Gom. ORS posted the stats at the latter half of last season and the average ERA was in the 5.8 range.

actually, thats better than a #5 starter. Take a look at the averages for #5 starters.

he will be a #4 here. But I think he'll end up performing better than that. Hell, he has absolutely dominated 2 of the better hitting teams in the league. But he also sucked balls vs the sox and vs the orioles. But the fact that, at 22, he can put up games like he has gives me a lot of hope. I dont know what your sense of a #4 or 5 is, but right now, Hughes is a good #5.

I thought about that for a bit. I was actually on the same page initially. But now that I think about it, how can they force their hand? The Sox have both Bowden and Buch on the 40 man. Buch has had 3 options used. He needs to be in the MLB full time next yr, just in time for that #5 slot to open. Bowden has used 2 options and can be optioned again in 2010. Lets say the sox give Buch the slot in 2010 and they give Bowden the slot in 2011 after letting Wake walk, that would fit in with their plans. The sox actually dont have a lot in terms of MLB ready SP depth past the big 3. They actually dont have anything significant between Bowden and Hagadone/Kelly. That may have been by design over the last few yrs.

Cashman debunked that rumor. Cash said that Hughes was absolutely in the Santana trade discussion. That being said, if Johan was in NYY pinstripes, CC is not a yankee. And to be honest with you, I think CC is the better bet going forward since he's just a horse, he's younger and Santana is built much slighter. We sacrificed one yr. I know, it sucked. But lets say Hughes develops into a #2 and we get 7 yr out of CC as a horse, then it was worth it.

I didnt see that Papelbon gave up another tater. Good for him.

Just for some comparison, David Price got through 3.1IP tonight on 100 pitches. No matter how good the stuff is, you gotta be able to throw it to the right spots. Hughes is learning this. Price will too.

we'll see. If it becomes a prospect grab in trade, I am not sure we will have the most high level parts available.

It depends on how our prospects are progressing. Right now, we have 2 very solid catching prospects. If Montero is still a catcher, he might be breaking in for 2011 with Posada as the platoon mate. I honestly am not sure they go with Mauer IMO. We'll have to see how the kids shake out.

I told you before Gom. He is an unfinished project. Some nights, he will be untouchable. Other nights, he'll be awful. You dont need to teach a pitcher how to be awesome when all of his stuff is working. You need to learn how to pitch when your stuff is off. Hughes hasnt learned that yet.

great game from hughes

that he is. He's scuffling a bit. But he has a lot of power.