Phil Hughes was a huge headache for the New York Yankees over the past few seasons, he was either really solid or really bad. That hasn’t stopped teams from being interested in his services though as he has had seasons where he won 16 and 18 games. With the Yankees not giving him a qualifying offer teams with spacious ballparks are lining up for his services, including the Kansas City Royals.
The Royals have emerged as a suitor for starting pitcher Phil Hughes, who could be the bargain of the winter after a season of abject underachievement.
Though the Royals haven’t been connected to Hughes in the past, it should come as no shock that they have interest. Kansas City pitching coach Dave Eiland is a longtime Hughes supporter who was also raised in the Yankees organization and knew Hughes well from his days coaching there. (Jon Heyman – CBS Sports)
In my opinion teams are lining up for him for one reason, he’s still only 27 years old. Over the past couple years the Yankees and their fans have held on to the hope that he could turn it around because of that age, so you have to ask when do we stop saying he’s young? At this point, I don’t think we do. Hughes was never a fit in New York.
Hughes has always been a fly ball pitcher and in the little sandbox known as Yankee Stadium he was a very bad fit. In 2013 he had a 3.88 ERA on the road over 13 starts, allowing only seven homers. At home his ERA was 6.10 over 16 starts and he allowed 17 homers. So clearly he needs a spacious park.
The most ironic thing about this though is that Hughes hasn’t been any better at Kaufmann Stadium then Yankee Stadium. He’s had four starts there in his brief career with a 6.33 ERA and four homers allowed.
Personally, I think he’d be a better fit with a west coast team but the Royals may give him an offer he can’t refuse as they try to keep their ship heading towards contention.
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