You know, the Yankees are really hard to understand sometimes. They pay tons of money to guys who have never performed on that big of a stage and they predictably flop. But yet they continue to do it, leaving the AJ Burnett's of the world for the taking. Apparently, Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain are the next two to claim that AJ role. Would the Pirates try to get lightning to strike twice by grabbing one or both of these guys from the Bronx Bombers?
I'll start with Hughes. He's been a rather steady pitcher for the Yankees but has never seemed to like the big lights. This season he's got stats like this, 4-8, 4.55 ERA, 2.4 BB/9, 7.4 K/9, 3.12 K/BB. Not overwhelming by any means. His career is pretty similar with stats that include, 4.41 ERA, 2.8 BB/9, 7.6 K/9, 2.69 K/BB. So what you see is what you get, or is it? Like I said, he could be another AJ Burnett. So I looked at his stats away from the little league field that is Yankee Stadium. His ERA is 4.04 away compared to 4.77 at home. His WHIP and BAA (batting average against) also drop from 1.36 and .268, to 1.23 and .242. So he's actually better away from home as expected. And a move to the NL and away from the giant New York market could also lower those even farther like we saw with one AJ Burnett. Like I did with Matt Garza, I like to look at pitcher's playoff stats too because the Pirates need more of that experience in my mind. Hughes is a career 2-4 with a 4.54 ERA in playoff appearances. Not great but last year was his best year pitching 6.2 innings and giving up one run and then pitching 3.0 innings later to only surrender one more run. So he passes that test for me.
The one thing that inhibits this trade for me, is that Hughes is a rental. I'd like to have him here longer for next season if Burnett retires and/or Wandy does not exercise his player option (highly unlikely because he's hurt). Maybe the change of scenery will really help him and he'll want to stay long term? I doubt that but look what it has done for AJ who absolutely adores this team. Other than that, I think it'd be a low risk, high reward move.
Now I'll move on to Joba. He's a failed starter with the Yankees converted to reliever and is yet again another guy who doesn't like New York spotlight. This season out of the pen he's got a line that looks like this, 5.48 ERA, 4.2 BB/9, 9.2 K/9, 2.20 K/BB. In his career, including some starts, he has a line of, 3.82 ERA, 3.5 BB/9, 9.1 K/9, 2.59 K/BB. Not great. But not bad. And again, like Hughes, I looked at how much better he does away from Yankee Stadium and he does better as well. His ERA, WHIP, and BAA drop from 4.35, 1.43, .258 at home to 3.22, 1.29, .250. That's an even greater change. So just like Hughes and Burnett, Joba could become a great bullpen arm upon rellocation.
My issue with Joba is his mind. It seems that the Yankees have really screwed up his head in New York and I don't know if it's beyond repair or not. The Pirates have had success fixing guys up but he reminds me a lot of JMac, the one guy we can't seem to fix. If Ray Searage is up to it though, I could see Chamberlain being a great help down the stretch.
These two are friends that could both use a change. The New York spotlight can hurt a lot of promising people and it seems it's claimed Hughes and Chamberlain. A shift to an NL team could definitely help. The question most of you are wondering has to be why the Yankees would sell these two in the midst of a playoff race? Well, I think they've given up on Joba and they have Michael Pineda coming back to bump Hughes out of the rotation. Not only are they selling these guys, but they are "aggrssively selling" them to NL teams, including the Pirates according to a report. All they want is a hitter with Texeira out for the year and Lyle Overbay returning to Lyle Overbay form. So I say, why not give them a guy like Garrett Jones who could really thrive in Yankee Stadium and a prospect for Hughes and Chamberlain? Then add a guy like Mike Morse to replace him in a platoon with Gaby and platoon in RF? That might sound like a bargain but when a team is aggressively selling, you hold all of the cards. So to wrap this up, if the Pirates could get Hughes and/or Chamberlain from New York, it could end up being similar to the AJ Burnett deal and pay off big time for the Pirates.
Tomorrow starts my own speculation of names the Pirates should go after but haven't been talked about a lot, if at all, beginning with trade target OF Alejandro De Aza.
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