Whether the Yankees were planning to trade him or call him up...not great news.

Joba pitched about 110 INN in his first professional season, and this year he is on pace for about 140.

If anything, it was Joba who was rushed into the big leagues and used in odd roles out of necessity. That Hughes was somehow rushed more or protected less than Joba is pretty clearly a mistaken notion.

For example, search term "hughes phil innings limit"
http://yankees.lhblogs.com/2008/02/29/phil-hughes-answers-your-questions/
"Phil Hughes: I support whatever the organization feels is enough innings for me. Obviously there will be an innings limit. I'm not going to go out there and throw 200+ innings. Obviously they want to protect my arm for the future. Whether I feel like I can throw more innings is not my call and I'll support whatever route they decide to go."

google search term: "ian kennedy innings limit"
http://www.dugoutcentral.com/blog/?p=1090
"Like Chamberlain, Hughes will also have an innings limit this year, likely somewhere between 140 and 175. The organization will place a limit on Kennedy as well, but after pitching 165.1 innings between the majors and minors last year, Kennedy will likely be able to pitch close to 200 innings in 2008 and make a significant contribution to the Yankees staff."

Hughes and Kennedy were always starters, so never had to make the conversion to relief pitching (which, you will recall, they had to do with Joba in the minors last year) nor the conversion back to starting.

Also, look at Hughes' gamelogs from 2007: most of his starts were in the 80s and 90s pitches; only a couple exceeded 100. He was handled very carefully.

As for proving he could handle the level, he was pitching a no hitter when he got hurt in 2007, after all.

I've never heard him speak of this! I'd love to hear his thoughts on catching a no-hitter in his first game. That's incredible.

No one ever says, "Yeah, and man, my defense behind me was incredible."

It's gotta be extremely stressful on the defense.

http://tinyurl.com/5grxvd

i wonder if that means matsui's bound for surgery, or if he's just going to replace christian ... hopefully he gets starts right away

Buerle (1991): "Obviously, for a guy like me, I need my defense behind me," Buehrle said."

http://tinyurl.com/5tpm56

Verlander (2007) "I've really got to give these guys credit," Verlander said. "Magglio had that great catch. Neifi and Polanco on that double play."

http://tinyurl.com/4k7xhc

Cone (1999): ''I went 2-0 on him,'' said Cone, who had not thrown two balls with his first two pitches to any other batter. ''I said, 'I got to go for it here. I'm just going to challenge him.' I got the better part of the middle of the plate and he hit it hard up the middle and I thought, there it goes.'' But second baseman Knoblauch ranged far to his right...

http://tinyurl.com/5psldw

Bucholz (2007): "When I jumped and missed that ball, I was thinking, 'Well, it's over,"' Buchholz said. "And then he comes out of nowhere (and makes) probably one of the best plays I've ever seen in 10 years anywhere. When he made that play, I knew that something was meant to happen."

http://tinyurl.com/5tdn

I would give Duncan another shot, too, though I don't really expect anything.

"Gardner was at .287/412/.429 through 80 games for
It's uncertain what the corresponding move will be. Joe Girardi said today that they planned to keep three catchers...

Girardi said today that he planned to use Wilson Betemit as the DH in place in Hideki Matsui."

This is just plain kooky talk.

Bonds, Barry Bonds.

And wouldn't it be great to see how pissed off it would make Sox fans to see him blast shots out of Fenway, all the while that they try to pretend that they are better than him and wouldn't want him on their team? I mean, its not like they don't already have a home run hitting, large DH whose body is suddenly questionably failing him...eh? :)

I'm not sure those are comparable situations.

Nobody likes Bonds, including me. I do, however, like winning.

Bonds can help this team far more than he can hurt it. Its not like the Yankees are one of those teams that buys into the hogwash that is "chemistry."

1) stand pat; or
2) trade prospects (many of whom are at potential low points in terms of their value, like IPK) for help.

Standing pat may well lead to the first non-playoff season since '95. It's not the end of the world to me. Still, I'd prefer that they make it, and Bonds would help on the field. Sure, he's a PR issue. So is missing the playoffs, dontcha think?

I'm generally anti-trade, largely b/c IPK, Hughes and Tabata - 3 of the major trade chips available, are all down in value this season. I greatly fear a panic trade that ships out guys who then rebound in exchange for a mediocre vet.