Odd Man Out

With Joe Girardi stating that the Yankees will not go with a six man rotation, that leaves one of their six starting pitchers as the odd man out. Whether that pitcher goes to the minors, the bullpen or the unemployment line is yet to be seen. CC Sabathia, even with his back-to-back shaky outings, is the ace of the staff and not going anywhere. Ivan Nova who has impressed everyone has cemented his place in the rotation. Journeymen Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia have shocked the entire baseball community with their solid seasons and it is hard to see how either of those two get bumped. That leaves youngster Phil Hughes and veteran AJ Burnett as the options to get the hammer. If Hughes is the choice, he can either go to the bullpen where he thrived in 2009 or he can go to the minors for the rest of August until the rosters expand in September. If AJ is the choice, he would have to go to the bullpen - a thing he has not done in seven years.
My choice would be AJ Burnett. He is in the third year of his 5 year, $82.5 million contract and has been severely underwhelming to say the least. In 2009 he looked like a good signing putting up decent numbers going 13-9 with a 4.04 ERA but delivering a crucial gem in game 2 of the World Series that year. Since that game, he has been terrible. I have always been one of his biggest supporters, seeing his mid 90's fastball and devastating curve as a force for the Blue Jays in past years. However, in 2010 and 2011 he hasn't been able to put it all together. There was hope early this year when he had a strong April but quickly faded and he has not won a game since late June. His stuff would translate to the bullpen well giving the Yankees another power arm to go with the likes of Soriano and Robertson as the bridge to Mo. It would also keep Burnett from imploding after a few innings which has become more predictable than Carl Pavano's DL stints.
Phil Hughes might end up being the choice because they don't want to waste Burnett's contract in the bullpen. But since when has the Yankee motto been about caring about how much money a guy is making? It's all about winning - and that's what Phil Hughes has been doing. Granted it's only been 2 starts and he has a long way to go before he cracks the playoff rotation, but Hughes has been money. He went 6 dominant innings against the White Sox in a rain-shortened outing and today threw a solid 6 innings against the Rays giving the Yankees a much needed win after CC's dud last night. Hughes is showing signs he can be the pitcher he was at the beginning of last season and he should continue to get the ball every fifth day while AJ twiddles his thumbs from behind the right-center field wall.