Minnesota Thanks Phil Hughes the Way New York Never Did

Phil Hughes had it coming. A “thank you”. He finally got it. The Minnesota Twins have reportedly ripped up the final 2 years of Phil Hughes’ current contract and given him a 3-year, $42 million contract extension — essentially signing the 28-year-old righty to a new five-year, $58 million pact.

A classy act by Minnesota; different than the indifference the NY Yankees showed him after his success in NY. Hughes led NY to the 2009 title as a reliever, turned around and went 18-8 as a starter, blew out his arm but came back only a year later to go 16-12, then suffered a partially bad/partially unlucky 4-14 campaign in 2013, and was unceremoniously discarded by the Yankees at age 27.

He signed a bargain-basement 3-year contract with the Twins  and returned to form as a top-0f-rotation starter — leading the league in wins early in the season and finishing 16-10 3.52 for the 70-92 Twins and 7th in Cy Young voting.

According to reports first published by the NY Daily News, the new five-year, $58 million pact will net Hughes $9 million, $9 million, $13 million, $13 million, and $13 million over that span. At the end of the contract he’ll still only be 34 years old.

Phil Hughes Is Fun to Watch Pitch
I always enjoyed watching Phil Hughes pitch.

  • He has wonderful movement on his fastball and curveball.
  • He rarely gets hit hard — never allows hit after hit — rather his undoing has always been the homerun ball. He’d be pitching a shutout through 4 innings, then allow a 2-run homer in the 5th and a solo shot in the 7th. And he’d win or lose on that.
  • He seems to have quiet, unflappable confidence on the mound.
  • He is a ‘winner’ — arguably the Yankee MVP in helping carry them to the 2009 World Series title as a reliever. Turns around and goes 18-8 as a starter.
  • He was from the Yankee system.

I can’t tell you the number of arguments I had with other Yankee fans the summer of 2013 when Phil had a bad year.

His Bad Year
Even in 2013, during his worst season, Hughes had 12 quality starts — 9 of them unlucky. In those 9 unlucky quality starts (6, 7, or 8 innings, 2 or 3 runs allowed; or 5 innings, 0 earned runs), Hughes got 2 loses and 7 no decisions. Early in the year the Yankee offense let him down, and then later on it was the pen.

Hughes’ 2013 Unlucky Quality Starts:
April 18 vs Arizona — 7 IP, 2 ER — No Decision
April 23 @ Tampa Bay — 7 IP, 2 ER — No Decision
April 28 vs Tor — 6 IP, 2 ER — No Decision
May 21@ BAL — 6 IP 2 ER — No Decision
May 27 @ NYMets — 7 IP, 1 ER — No Decision
June 27 vs Tex — 8 IP, 2 ER — Lost
July 23 @ Tex — 5 IP, 0 ER — No Decision
Aug 15 vs LA Angels — 6 IP, 3 ER — Lost
Aug 20 vs Tor — 6 IP, 2 ER — No Decision

Hughes’ 2013 wins:
May 4 vs Oakland — 8 IP, 0 ER
May 10 @ KC — 5 2/3 IP, 6 ER – only time all year team gave him one
June 6 @ Seattle — 7 IP, 0 ER
July 2 @ Minn — 7 IP, 1 ER

The Erroneous Notion that He’s a “Fly Ball Pitcher” Who Couldn’t Pitch In NY

During the 4-14 campaign, a lot of Yankee fans came up with the notion that Hughes was a fly-ball pitcher who was done in by Yankee Stadium’s short right-field porch. This was utter nonsense. I watched just about every Hughes start and I don’t recall a single homerun ball that just made it over the fence or was aided by the wind. No when Phil allowed a homerun ball — it was a homerun ball. His excellent fastball hit excellently WAY over the fence. Phil’s failures were from grooving the fastball not from being a fly ball pitcher.

And if Hughes couldn’t pitch in NY, how’d he carry the Yanks to the 2009 title, or go 18-8 in 2010, or 16-12 in 2012 coming back from the blown arm?

Last year in Minnesota, Hughes was 9-5, 2.78 ERA in 15 starts on the road, and 7-5, 4.25 at cavernous Target Field. So kill the fly ball theory.

In Summary
In summary, from some of us Yankee fans everywhere: Thank you Phil Hughes. Thank you Minnesota for thanking Phil Hughes. Thank you for reading this article.

Year   Age  Tm  Lg  W  L W-L%  ERA   G  GS GF    IP    H  BB  SO
2007    21 NYY  AL  5  3 .625 4.46  13  13  0  72.2   64  29  58
2008    22 NYY  AL  0  4 .000 6.62   8   8  0  34.0   43  15  23
2009    23 NYY  AL  8  3 .727 3.03  51   7  6  86.0   68  28  96
2010    24 NYY  AL 18  8 .692 4.19  31  29  0 176.1  162  58 146
2011    25 NYY  AL  5  5 .500 5.79  17  14  1  74.2   84  27  47
2012    26 NYY  AL 16 13 .552 4.19  32  32  0 191.1  196  46 165
2013    27 NYY  AL  4 14 .222 5.19  30  29  0 145.2  170  42 121
2014    28 MIN  AL 16 10 .615 3.52  32  32  0 209.2  221  16 186
8 Yrs              72 60 .545 4.32 214 164  7 990.1 1008 261 842
162 Game Avg.      13 11 .545 4.32  38  30  1   178  181  47 151

NYY (7 yrs) 56 50 .528 4.53 182 132 7 780.2 787 245 656
MIN (1 yr) 16 10 .615 3.52 32 32 0 209.2 221 16 186

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/1/2015.

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