It’s more important for the Yankees to have a dominant bullpen than an effective fifth starter.
The spring training-long competition for the fifth-starter’s job ended today with Phil Hughes declared the winner. But the Yankees came out the loser by weakening their bullpen.
The Yankees won multiple World Series in the ’90s with a dominant bullpen. If a starter gave them six innings and a lead, a victory was all but guaranteed with Jeff Nelson, Mike Stanton and Mariano Rivera waiting to finish off an opponent. The Yankees had the opportunity for a similar situation this year: Hughes, Joba Chamberlain and Chan Ho Park would have been a tremendous bridge to Rivera.
But the Yankees see Hughes as a starter, so they gave him the job. Alfredo Aceves or Sergio Mitre would have been the wiser choice, not for what they would have brought to the rotation, but for what the Yankees lose by not having Hughes in their bullpen.
Hughes had a 1.40 ERA in 44 relief appearances last season, and if Chamberlain can find the form that made him so great in 2007, it would be the best seventh-eighth inning combo in the majors. The Yankees could have made Aceves or Mitre the fifth starter with the other a long reliever.
The Yankees have one of, if not the best, tops to a rotation in baseball with CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte and Javier Vazquez. The fifth starter is not going to determine this season one way or the other. Aceves, Mitre and Hughes would all get their fair share of run support from the Yankees lineup, and be somewhere around 12 wins with a 4.30 ERA.
If the rest of the rotation stays healthy, it won’t be needed for the postseason if the Yankees make it. Then you would be asking Hughes to adjust back to the bullpen role after starting for most of the season. The Yankees would be trying to throw it together the way they did with Chamberlain last October. Chamberlain was good, not great, and there is a difference in mentality between starters and relievers that does not work like an on-off switch.
Starters have to think about the variety and economy of pitches, while a reliever’s one goal is to get the guy in the batter’s box out with your best stuff. That’s what Hughes excelled at last season, like Chamberlain did in 2007 before the Yankees tried to make him a starter. And we see how well that worked out; three years later Chamberlain is back where he belonged the whole time.