Pinstripe Baseball
New York Yankees Tickets – Yankees Make Right Choice With Hughes
The New York Yankees recently announced that Phil Hughes will be their fifth starter in 2010, effectively sending Joba Chamberlain back to the bullpen. While nobody doubts Chamberlain’s talent level and overall potential, Hughes has been the more reliable pitcher, making him a much better fit for the Yankees’ starting rotation and setting them up for another season of World Series contention.
The move does a couple of nice things for the Yankees, which should pay instant benefits for the Pinstripes. As the fifth starter on the most dominant offensive team in the league, Hughes will not have to be a shut down pitcher for him to have success, and his overall consistency and cool-headed demeanor should ensure that he racks up the wins at the end of the rotation. Even if Hughes posts an ERA in the neighborhood of 4.00, he still could win 13 or 14 games in 2010. With such promise at the end of the rotation, <a href=”http://www.stubhub.com/new-york-yankees-tickets/”>New York Yankees tickets</a> will certainly be among the elite ticketing options in the majors this year.
The biggest benefactor actually should be Joba Chamberlain, who has been inconsistent at best as a starter for the Yankees. Even though Chamberlain and many in the Yankee organization have seen him as a starter, his limited number of pitches and overall pitching style suggest that he will work better out of the bullpen. Additionally, Chamberlain’s fiery personality leads to focus issues on the mound that can limit his effectiveness from inning to inning, which is something that can be circumvented in the bullpen by allowing him to pitch shorter stints. In 2010, Chamberlain will be the setup man to Mariano Rivera, who remains one of the elite closers in the league despite being 40 years old.
Though being a setup man is nowhere near as glamorous as starting for the Pinstripes, it is still a position of the utmost importance. Many teams have proven that you can win in the postseason with hard throwers at the back end of the bullpen; Rivera even started as a setup man for John Wetteland, helping the Yankees take down a World Series title in 1996 before Wetteland left as a free agent.
Chamberlain’s career has been capricious to this point, but if he can become a fixture in the seventh and eighth innings, New York fans will embrace him without question. While being the setup man on most clubs almost guarantees obscurity, the same is certainly not true in New York, where even the smallest role players can become heroes if they regularly contribute to the team’s win totals.
Deciding that Chamberlain will be a bullpen pitcher heading into the season also should help him in his preparation, which was something he openly struggled with in 2009. With his fate uncertain a season ago, Chamberlain said that he had difficulty in his training because of it, which is certainly understandable considering the different demands on a pitcher’s body when moving from the bullpen to the starting rotation and vice versa.
For the long-term, however, the move makes even more sense for the Yankees and for Chamberlain. Even though Rivera seems to have an elastic arm, nobody can remain a dominant closer forever and it seems that Chamberlain could be his eventual replacement. Being an unbelievable competitor on the mound, Chamberlain seems a natural fit for the late innings, where he can worry less about making adjustments from inning to inning and let his natural talent take over.
Much like most of the great starters that have made a name for themselves in the big leagues, Chamberlain would prefer to start. However, if he finds a significant role in a bullpen that helps the Yankees rack up the wins, this could change in a hurry.
About the Author
Written by David James, sponsored by <a href=”http://www.stubhub.com/”>StubHub</a>. StubHub sells <a href=”http://www.stubhub.com/new-york-yankees-tickets/”>New York Yankees tickets</a>, sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and more to just about any event in the world.