New York Yankees: Maybe No Trade Is Needed with Colon and Hughes Returning

Before the month of July began, a lot of fans and people speculated as to when the Yankees were going to try and trade for a starting pitcher.

When the Yankees played the Cubs in interleague last month, Carlos Zambrano's name resurfaced again, but the Yankees are reportedly not interested in Zambrano's contract or baggage.

People on this Web site tend to keep bringing up Felix Hernandez's name, but there's not much of a possibility that the Mariners even want to trade their young ace.

In all honestly, there really isn't much on the trade market like last season.

Last season, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Dan Haren were all on the block. They all got traded at some point in July.

This year, you really don't see too many quality starters out on the block.

For one thing, right now, 17 of the 30 teams in baseball are all .500 or better, and another four teams are a couple games out of being .500.

That right there alone might cause teams to not deal away any players, especially if they feel like they can compete for a shot at the playoffs.

But maybe the Yankees really don't need to go after a starter. At least, not now anyway.

This past week, the Yankees just got back two starters fresh off the disabled list, and both may be able to contribute to a second-half run for the season and into the playoffs.

On July 2 against the Mets, Bartolo Colon came off the DL and made his first start since hurting his hamstring back on June 11 against the Indians.

Colon looked like he didn't miss a beat as he shut out the Mets for six scoreless innings, only allowed five hits and struck out six and helped the Yankees en route to a 5-2 win.

That game put Colon at 6-3 with a 2.88 ERA for the season with 84.1 innings pitched and 78 strikeouts.

Honestly, where would the Yankees be without Colon in 2011? He has simply been amazing for them so far.

He's given them quality innings, and at times, he looks like the same guy back in 2005 who won the Cy Young Award when he was the ace with the Angels.

Now, of course the question of, "Can he hold up the rest of the season?" will continue to be asked the rest of the way.

But maybe Colon getting hurt in June was a blessing. Maybe him getting hurt then, rehabbing the injury and resting; getting it all out of the way now, and instead of him getting hurt in September or October and be forced out in crucial games.

The Yankees are going to need Colon down stretch if they want a shot at the postseason.

The Yankees also got back Phil Hughes on Wednesday.

Before his start, he had been on the disabled list since April with shoulder inflammation, which was causing a major lack of velocity.

In his first three starts, Hughes' fastball was only reaching around 88-90 miles per hour, a huge drop off to his regular 92-94 miles per hour on it.

Wednesday's start against the Indians was going to be the test to see if Hughes was really back to throwing how he was in 2010, when he finished 18-8.

Throwing 87 pitches total, Hughes struggled in the first inning and labored through some innings, but he was able to get through five innings for the first time all season.

The better news, his fastball was hitting 93-94 on the radar guns, which means he's back to throwing at regular speed.

Hughes took the loss in the game against Cleveland, but the Yankees simply didn't score any runs for him. Justin Masterson had the Yankees offense shutout for eight innings.

But Hughes' ERA went from 13.94 to 10.57 in that start, dropping a full three runs off it, which is another good sign and step for Hughes.

Last year, Hughes struggled in the second half of the season, mostly because people thought he was wearing down because he wasn't used to pitching so much in one season.

He pitched 176.1 innings in 2010, the most of his major league career. The year before in 2009, he went from being a starter to Mariano Rivera's setup man in the bullpen.

But in the second half, Hughes won't have to worry about wearing down. He's only thrown 15.1 innings in 2011 and is pretty fresh, so maybe the Yankees get the first half and stronger Hughes they had in the first half of last season.

If you can keep both Colon and Hughes healthy and have them pitch well, the Yankees rotation could be a force to reckon with in the second half.

Freddy Garcia is another reason why the Yankees may not need to make a trade before July 31.

Garcia is 7-6 with a 3.13 ERA with 92 innings pitched.

He's done the job for the Yankees in 2011. Even if he doesn't have his best stuff, he still give the Yankees innings and depth.

In 15 starts, in only three of the Garcia didn't pitch six innings. Of those three, in two of them, he at least pitched five innings.

Now, in his two starts against the Red Sox, he hasn't been very good, but then again, the Yankees are 1-8 against Boston, so not too many Yankees have been good so far against Boston.

And even with that record, the Yankees find themselves a half-game up in the division against Boston. Go figure.

Throw in the fact that CC Sabathia is 12-4 with a 2.90 ERA, A.J. Burnett is 8-7 with a 4.12 ERA and the recently sent down Ivan Nova is 8-4 with a 4.12 ERA.

That's 41 wins from the starting pitching staff, very impressive.

And it's much more than you can say for the Red Sox rotation right now.

Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz and Daisuke Matsuzaka are all on the disabled list and John Lackey has a 7.47 ERA.

I wonder how Theo Epstein feels when he's signing over those paychecks to Lackey, given that he's not earning the $82.5 million he got from Boston last year. Not too good I'm guessing.

On the other side, I'm wondering how Brian Cashman is feeling saving almost $150 million by missing out on Cliff Lee and signing Colon and Garcia to those minor league contracts. Lee is good this year, but will he be long-term? Who knows. Either way, Cashman made a good investment by saving the money.

With three weeks until the deadline, maybe the investments of Colon and Garcia hold up, along with Hughes health and doesn't force Cashman to make a deal for a pitcher.

Maybe he goes after bullpen help or depth off the bench.

Pending they both stay healthy, getting a healthy and effective Colon and Hughes back now in the season is making the move for a trade without actually having to give up anyone to get them.

And pending they do stay healthy and pitch well, then the Yankees don't need to make a move for a starter.