i think if we get anything between what benes/pavano were in their prime, we have a very solid starter, and one that would be very successful for the yanks. benes won something like 150 games, and would have won more if he had better hitting behind him. i feel like all the speculation about hughes is overkill. let the kid develop and lets see where he is a year or two down the line. then judge. bust or boom.

Have we heard anything of this cutter that Hughes learned this year? Maybe he is throwing that pitch in the 89-91 range, fastball is up to 95 at times?

it’s hard to define what a #3 is, some ppl think Wang is #3, if Hughes = Wang , I’d be pretty happy.

Some #3 are guys that have years where they dominate, and then years where they’re either hurt and /or suck.

there are very very few guys who are consistently just a bit above average.

But, when you only have two pitches, it’s more than being able to locate. You better be able to SUPER-locate, like Maddux did. And, how many pitchers can do that?

The issue is not 91 or 94. His curve, when good, is dymanite. But most important is COMMAND. COMMAND. Maddux and many others. Stuff is great. Ryan had geat stuff. Not a great pitcher. Same with AJ and tons of other guys. Great pitchers need command. If they have stuff and command, then they become all time greats.

So what we need from Phil is not another 3 mph but his ability to locate.

like steve always says, we just don’t know with hughes at this point. it’s wait and see. could be great, could be nothing, could be something in between. it’s not like joba, where you know if healthy he can really pitch. it’s also not like he’s never shown flashes of being good. we’ve seen both from him, and now we’ll just have to wait and see what he becomes long term. the most important thing for me is him getting through a season healthy and reaching his target IP number after these past two years, no matter what level it’s at or how effective/ineffective he is.

Yeah, I know, I know, it’s also been reported that Hughes was “throwing 94, 95 with ease” in the AFL. So, who knows which report is true?
————-
Maybe they meant km/h?

that’s what I’d do if I had the job

“it could be a bluff by cashman”

how Machiavellian… but i think that’d be giving Cashman too much credit, especially on this site