Yanks Disable Hughes With Dead Arm
Via ESPN -
Phil Hughes and his floundering fastball have been placed on the disabled list.
“We just feel like he’s going through a dead arm period,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “We don’t feel that he’s hurt.”
Hughes is 0-1 with a 13.94 ERA through three starts this season. He was pulled with one out in the fifth inning on Thursday against the Orioles after allowing five runs on seven hits in the Yankees’ 6-5 win in 10 innings.
Hughes’ fastball has lacked velocity this season. He is normally in the low-to-mid-90s. He has been clocked consistently in the high-80s this season.
“Same old story,” Hughes said after Thursday’s start. “I don’t even know what to say at this point. It is what it is. I’m hoping it will turn around. I’m fairly confident it will turn around.”
Hughes has allowed at least five runs and pitched fewer than five innings in each of his first three starts this season, the third Yankee starter in the live ball era to do so. The others are Chien-Ming Wang in 2009 and Brian Boehringer in 1995.
The announcement on Friday was a stunning and sudden setback for the 24-year-old right-hander, who earned an All-Star bid in 2010, finishing the season 18-8 with a 4.18 ERA.
Skipping Hughes’ next start was an option because the Yankees have two off days in the next week.
Com’on, no one has a dead arm for six weeks of Spring Training and then three weeks of the season – unless it’s really, really, dead…
The more I think about this, I wonder if another team will cry “BS!” to the league.
Dead arm? That’s not an injury. That’s like saying you’re putting Bartolo Colon on the DL because he’s constipated. Or, that you’re putting Posada on the DL because he’s upset about a bad haircut.
Dead arm is a condition – not an injury. It’s not “disabling.” It’s an annoyance. It’s something that you’re supposed to work through, etc.
Disabled means not being able to perform because of an injury. It doesn’t mean not able to perform because you suck.
If the league lets this go through, then every team in the league who has a pitcher who sucks should say he has a “dead arm” and then D.L. him. If I’m the Red Sox, Dice-K has a dead arm now and I’m getting him off the roster.
How do you prove “dead arm”? Does it show up on an x-ray or MRI? No, it shows up in Opp BA and ERA. But, that’s not a medical test.
@ Steve Lombardi:
Other teams have done it including the Royals with John Bale in 2009 and, of course, the Red Sox! http://articles.boston.com/2006-09-06/sports/29241019_1_shoulder-labrum-tears (btw, the Red Sox called the DL trip “shoulder soreness”)
I would assume the Yankees will make up a reason like the Sox did (“transient subluxation event in the setting of a fatigued shoulder” was what the Sox’s medical director used, can’t argue with that) and go with it.
If dling Wang a few years ago didn’t change anything, this certainly won’t.
Didn’t the Mets get away with DL’ing Ollie Perez last year?
Come to think of it, the Yanks do need a lefty reliever….. oh, never mind.
Steve Lombardi wrote:
Or they put them on the bereavement list.
Roster shenanigans are nothing new.
Let’s start with the word “stunning”. Steve has been on this since last year. We all speculated on next steps after last Friday’s meltdown (see April 8 postings). To me April 14 was the turning point
of the 2011 season. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hughes spent most of the season on the disabled list. It may well turn out that Jeter’s quest for 3,000 is the only highlight to come out of this season.
Joseph Maloney wrote:
You may well be right. This team has serious issues. We have no reliable lefty out of the pen, Burnett is inconsistent at best, Nova can’t get out of the fifth inning, and Colon and Garcia are our #4 and #5 starters. All of that coupled with our advanced ages at some key positions could spell doom and gloom for the Yanks this year. We’ll see …
I know its way early to think about next year but what if Sabathia and Soriano walk at the end of the year? How bad does our roster look then? Wow, scary stuff.
I can’t believe the Yanks just hit into their FIFTH double play! I wonder what the record is on that.
OK forget my previous inquiry. I just found out.
Joseph Maloney wrote:
Wow…
@ LMJ229:
Record for most GIDP in a game of 9 innings or less is 7, since 1919.
Giants did it on 5/4/69
@ Steve Lombardi:
Thanks for the info Steve. VERY frustrating game tonight.
Steve Lombardi wrote:
I think it was mentioned during the broadcast that the Yanks have either the team record or the AL record.
To those of you who have already given up on the season, let me ask: “Which team is better then NYY?”
@ ken:
You have to look at the starting pitching staff and know this will not get it done. CC is great but what else do we have, one 18 game walk year aside, and AJ ranges from 11-13 victories a year. The resr of the staff, Colon and Garcia are two retreads, and Nova is a young pitcher that doesn’t seem to be bringing a whole lot to the table. It’s hard to see how you win anymore than 83-86 games with that bunch, and most years that record will not get you into the postseason.
What we haven’t discussed are the deep disturbing doubts many of us have about the Yankee everyday line-up. Jeter and Gardner concern me the most, but there are other issues.
Look I think most of us realize the Yanks are in for some difficult days. CC may walk at the end of the year, Rivera has indicated 2012 will be his last. AROD and Jeter will be 37 and 38 next year, go look through the history of baseball and find a team with that kind of age on the left side of the infield. Hughes, well who knows at this point, Joba was on the board to be a stud top of the rotation guy (now he is an inconsistent 7th inning guy), and Kennedy isn’t even here anymore.
Via George King -
Some have speculated Major League Baseball could question the legitimacy of Hughes’ injury, but a source said the league is “comfortable” with the situation. And it was the young starter himself who expressed a preference for a disabled list stint rather than going down to the minors. He said he didn’t see any benefit in continuing to pitch and repeating something that clearly hasn’t been working.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/yankees/flopping_phil_achieves_max_velocity_tKgoEtyn5y7nJUudv2SpyM#ixzz1Ji7xUP00
Joseph Maloney wrote:
What about the 2004-07 rotations?
@ Raf:
Pick your battles big guy, it’s time to let this one go
Joseph Maloney wrote:
Whoa! Talk about the glass half empty. CC is CC. AJ can’t be as bad as last year. Nova will progress. The other bunch can keep them in most games. They will fill in the starting rotation in June/July. The defense is solid and the lineup even with the slow starts by Jeter and Gardner is better than most teams. Can you name a team with better production from the 7-8-9 hitters?
This team will be fine.
ken wrote:
This. Very this.