Yankees place Phil Hughes on DL, Bartolo Colon to take spot in rotation

The New York Yankees have placed pitcher Phil Hughes on the 15-day disabled list with a "dead" arm, per Marc Craig of the Newark Star-Ledger.

Through three starts, Hughes is averaging only 89.3 miles per hour on his fastball (via FanGraphs.com). He averaged 93.8 and 92.6 mph in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

"It's difficult to go through," Hughes said (via Craig). "I didn't really anticipate this happening."

In his three starts, Hughes has pitched a total of 10.1 innings and the deepest he's gone was 4 1/3 innings. He's allowed five-plus earned runs in all of his starts and has only struck out three batters this season.

The Yankees have called up pitcher Lance Pendleton from Triple-A and Bartolo Colon will move into the rotation.

Joba to be a reliever in 2011, too?

It seems to depend on whom you ask.

Yankees pitching coach, Dave Eiland, and Yankees general manager, Brian Cashman, don't necessarily see eye-to-eye on the future of Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain.

Or, at least, the certainty surrounding his future role with the club.

The Yankees decided to go with Phil Hughes for the fifth starter spot in the rotation, which obviously meant a return to relief for Chamberlain.

"We get more out of his ability as a reliever," Eiland said, per Marc Carig of the Newark Star-Ledger. "We feel like he can be a good starter. We feel like he can be a great reliever. ... He's in the bullpen, and he's there to stay, period."

Meanwhile, Cashman said, "We all can have various views. From my perspective, he's going to be a starter that's pitching out of the pen."

In either case, Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter talks about the benefit of being emotional and a reliever -- not a starter.

"He's done a good job in that role; Joba is a guy that pitches on emotion, so being in the bullpen benefits his demeanor," Jeter said, per Mark Feinsand of the NY Daily News. "He gets by on emotion, and it's easier - or at least more fitting - to get by on emotion when you're in the bullpen. There are guys that can do it as a starter, but for him, I think being in the bullpen is a good thing."

With Joba and Mariano Rivera in the set-up and closer role, the Yankees have arguably the league's best one-two punch.

Should the Yankees pursue Halladay?

Blue Jays (until traded) ace Roy Halladay has stated that he would waive his no-trade clause for the Yankees.

In addition to the Yankees, Halladay's preferred destinations include Boston, Los Angeles (Angels) and Philadelphia, per ESPN's Buster Olney (via MLB Trade Rumors).

As Anthony McCarron and Bill Madden of the NY Daily News point out, the Jays would likely want catching prospect Jesus Montero, either Phil Hughes or Joba Chamberlain and another prospect such as centerfielder Austin Jackson in exchange for Halladay.

Halladay, who will be 33 years old in May, has one year remaining on his contract and would want and get a high-priced extension with whatever team acquires him in a trade.

In the past two seasons combined, Halladay has a combined 37-21 record, 18 complete games and an ERA of 2.79.

As dominant of a 1-2 punch as the Yankees would have at the top of their rotation, should the Yankees give up top prospects for Halladay?

Hughes refused to shake Girardi's hand

Today the Yankees beat the Rangers 11-1 as Phil Hughes pitched eight scoreless innings on 101 pitches.

When we made our earlier post about the game, one note we didn't mention was that Hughes refused to shake manager Joe Girardi's hand when he was taken out.

"He didn't want to shake my hand," Girardi said. "He wanted to go back out. I said, 'You know what? You're going to have plenty of time to get complete games in your career. It's a hot day, you've thrown a hundred pitches, and we don't want to send you back out there for the ninth.'"

It's not a huge deal, but I like his competitiveness.

Yankees dominate Rangers 11-1

The Yankees have now won 13 of their past 17 games with their 11-1 victory over the Rangers.

Former Rangers Alex Rodriguez went 5-for-5 with four RBI and Mark Teixeira went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Teixeira continues to feed off having A-Rod in the lineup to protect him.

Phil Hughes picked up his third win of the season by pitching eight scoreless innings. Hughes only threw 101 pitches.

He allowed three hits and only one walk while striking out six batters.

Girardi blames Hughes' poor outing on mechanics

Yankees "can't-miss" pitching prospect Phil Hughes couldn't get anyone out last night. While that's an exaggeration (he got five hitters out), he allowed eight earned runs in the process.

Why did Hughes pitch so poorly?

Yankees manager Joe Girardi says it was due to poor mechanics (dropping his arm slot and pushing the ball).

"The talent is there," Girardi said. "We just have to make an adjustment."

"For some reason or another, it just popped up tonight," Hughes said. "You've gotta find a way to get through it," he said.

"You still have to figure he'll put it all together eventually," said one AL scout at Saturday night's game. "But he's had enough things happen that maybe you have to wonder if it's more than the normal bumps in the road."

In three starts since getting called back up, Hughes has pitched six innings, four innings and now 1 2/3 innings. After allowing no runs in his first outing, he has allowed 11 runs in his past two.

Philip Hughes rocked by Orioles

Last night, the New York Yankees got Alex Rodriguez back and a shutout from C.C. Sabathia to end their five-game losing streak.

Tonight, Phillip Hughes did his best to impersonate Chien-Ming Wang.

Hughes managed to only get five batters out while allowing eight runs on eight hits and two walks against the Orioles.

It will be up to Joba Chamberlain to nip the new losing streak in the bud tomorrow afternoon.