Who Should Be The Yankees 5th Starter?

If the spring was to end today, who would, or should be the 5th starter for the Yankees? Now I know we have had a small sampling so far this spring, with the starters only pitching at most 3 games so far, and around 10 innings at the most. But its pretty safe to say the pitchers we can exclude from the competition at this point:

1. Sergio Mitre

2. Chad Gaudin

3. Joba Chamberlain

I think the one name many up there find strange is Joba. Sure he has only pitched 2 games so far, but in each game he has been knocked around pretty good, hasn't had very good velocity, and just hasn't shown much confidence in himself. He says that he feels good on the mound, but watching him, his body language says otherwise, and he is really better served in the bullpen then as a starter.

Mitre and Gaudin, honestly never really had a shot at the rotation. The Yankees like to say everyone had a chance, but lets face it, it was at first between Joba and Hughes. The fact that Mitre and Gaudin have started to struggle is not why they are on my list, it is simply the fact they were honestly never in contention.

The two pitchers that really have the best shot for the job are, Hughes, and Aceves. Alfredo I think comes as a shock to many, but last year he was one of their most valuable and trusted pitchers out of the bullpen. He showed he could be trusted, and had the skills to be a very good, very reliable pitcher. So far this spring he has pitched 10 innings of work allowing only 1 run, and 3 hits. He has been by far their best pitcher this spring, and deserves to be in the running.

Phil Hughes as I mentioned before, was always one of the main pitchers in competition for the starting position. So far this spring he has done nothing to hurt his chances, he hasn't been as dominant as Aceves, but he has made the most of his opportunities and pitched very well. We will get another chance to see him on Tuesday following after Burnett.

Now after all that has been said, the pitcher who should be the 5th starter is Phil Hughes. There are 3 reasons for this decision:

1. By being in the bullpen last year, he had a chance to not only gain experience at the pro level, but gain confidence. One knock against him was that he lacked confidence in his pitches, and would always go to a safe pitch, which made it easier for batters to hit against him. By being in the bullpen he learned to trust in his curveball, and has improved his change up, and really has more confidence then ever before.

2. Phil Hughes is built to be a starter. He has the pitches, he has the demeanor, in the Minors he was incredible. None of that had translated to success at the pros until last year in the bullpen. Having seen his pitches are great, and he can get out batters, expect that success to translate into success at the pros.

3. The Yankees can not waste a talent like Hughes in the bullpen. It was only a few years ago he was voted as the top pitching prospect in all of the minor leagues. There is no way he would be useful in the bullpen when you also have Joba in the pen. Hughes is a starter, and has been his whole life, the success from the minors will continue in the pros this year.

None of any of this is a knock against Aceves by any means. He is a quality pitcher, and to be honest, one I trust the most in the bullpen after Mo. But he is best served in the bullpen, for both the Yankees and himself. The benefit is that the Yankees have seen that he can be a great pitcher as a starter if anything were to ever happen down the road, or if Vazquez or Pettitte didn't come back next year. There is nothing wrong with holding off and keeping that security blanket in the bullpen.

Hughes also has to be told by the Yankees that he has the job, and it wont be lost if he has 2 bad outings. Sometimes it takes a pitcher 2 or 3 outings into a season to really become comfortable and gain their form. He cant have one bad outing and get put into the bullpen, its only going to hurt him, this kid will eventually be a very very good quality pitcher. Will he ever win a Cy Young, or be the best pitcher in the league? No way to know, but Brian Cashman thinks so, thats why he didn't trade him to the Blue Jays after the 2008 season. He is however the future of the Yankees pitching.