Pelfrey and Hughes, Which One to Use?

Sip's right, young Phil Hughes looked pretty decent last night. The fastball had quite a bit of zip and rode in onto lefties just how you'd like it to, although the other pitches weren't always as sharp. For a Major League debut, it wasn't that bad.

But of course, the Yankees aren't supposed to be in the business of "not that bad." The Yankees generally aren't much for "4-and-a-third, and showed some stuff." Technically speaking, the Yanks aren't really supposed to have anything to do with pitching prospects; they're for trading or ignoring, usually not in that order. But Hughes was supposed to be different.

And you know what? He will be. Everyone says so, and all I know is what I read in the funny papers. The kid has NO negatives to speak of, no holes in the stuff or command or makeup or body or statistical record. He's as can't-miss as the term gets, and at only 20, his future is brighter than an orangutan's ass.

That said ... the Yankees really aren't supposed to be in the business of lugging six-game losing streaks into last place with a crucial weekend series against the BoSox next on the calendar. But what can you say? Burnett absolutely owned their lineup, which always looks extremely awkward without Captain America there in the No. 2 slot, and Hughes was a rookie in the purest sense. Minky deserves to bat that high in the lineup just about as much as Pete Rose does.

Right now, the Yanks are going to war with the pitching they have, not the pitching you might want or wish to have at a later time. (H/t: the former SecDef.)

Now, the Mets aren't in anything like an analagous situation, but they too have a young arm with a live fastball in the rotation at the moment. Mike Pelfrey, the pride of Wichita State, has started three games in 2007 and looked like 79 inches of crap in all of them, the no-decision against Washington be damned. The WHIP's sitting up there around 2.00.

Recall that Pelfrey looked like a million bucks during much of camp. Recall that the Mets, presumably to maintain his comfort level and keep him fresh during the first weeks of the season, kept him down in St. Lucie while the team had no need of a No. 5 starter.

Well, you've all seen the results. Not good. Here's the man himself -- "“Whatever I’m doing, it’s not working." Yup.

So, how long do you give him to work it out? The guy's only in his second professional season, after all, and the Mets have options behind him. Here's Shpigel:

The most likely situation is that the Mets keep Pelfrey in the rotation through his next start, on Monday against the Florida Marlins, then decide after that whether to keep him in the majors. If they send Pelfrey to New Orleans, their most credible internal options are Jorge Sosa and another first-round pick, Philip Humber. Sosa has recovered from a miserable spring training to go 3-0 with a 1.38 E.R.A. for New Orleans while striking out 24 in 26 innings ... Humber, recently selected as the Pacific Coast League pitcher of the week, is 2-1 with a 3.00 E.R.A.

Does this sound about right to everyone? I'd say so, but only if Willie and Rick have a good handle on this kid's expectations. There's no sense in jerking him around quickly if it's going to murder him in the confidence department, and a single start shouldn't be the difference between anything. If it's me, I want to make sure my coaches have gotten through to Pelfrey, to make sure he realizes there's no question he'll have a chance to win back a starting spot at some point.

This is important, especially because you're either replacing him with Humber, who could wind up in the same position two weeks after the Mets make the change, or Sosa, who had a 5.42 ERA in 13 starts last year. You're not guaranteed of getting that much of an improvement, while you can expect that Pelfrey will probably grow into himself and his role with more work on the hill. Even if Pelfrey's ERA sits around 6.00 for two months, it's not like there's necessarily a pot of gold under the other side of the rainbow. (That doesn't make any sense, but bear with me.)

I'd give him at least two more starts (for a grand total of five) before I made a move in one direction or another. It's what smart managers do.