Yankees Abuse the DL?

Last year, Phil Hughes finally made good on the hype that had been built up by the Yankees and Peter Gammons. He had an xFIP of just over 4 in over 175 innings as a 24 year old. He was penciled in as the Yankees' #2 starter this season, and everyone assumed that he would take another step forward, especially since his peripherals matched his performance.
photo © 2008 Keith Allison | more info (via: Wylio)

Well, this season he has sucked. An ERA of almost 14 over 10 innings (3 starts!) led the Yankees to question what was wrong with him. Almost immediately, they put him on the DL with a "dead arm". Today it was reported that he had a significant setback while throwing a bullpen session, although he reported no pain. ESPN's Stephania Bell reported:

"As ESPN New York reported, however, Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild indicated this may not be a true dead-arm scenario because Hughes never demonstrated velocity on the ball since reporting to spring training.


On the one hand, the fact there is no overt structural issue is a positive. On the other hand, it can make trying to tackle an invisible enemy all the more frustrating."

Now, one might ask what the issue with this is? Two words. Oliver Perez.

The Mets searched for two seasons for a solution to Perez' "dead arm" (Yes, I am aware that a dead arm is an actual injury. I only quotate the term because it seems that Hughes does not have a dead arm, but rather just sucks, and hence, him being on the DL is fishy at best). They openly campaigned for him to be on the DL. They begged him to go to the minors to work on his "issues" (read: suckiness).

But rather than stash him on the DL or have him agree to the minor league batters that were more on his level, a saga got played out in the press, with Ollie basically stating that since he was being paid $12 million, he saw no need to be in the minors. Only after he began openly limping did he agree that his knee was an issue, and went on the DL, only to come off as soon as eligible, creating more roster issues for the Mets.

It pains me to say this, but the Mets should look to how the Yankees handled their crappy pitcher issue for how to properly handle roster decisions. If they came correct in most instances, they wouldn't have crappy pitchers holding them hostage, but rather looking to help out the organization.