OK, so Phil Hughes is actually injured; a stress fracture in the 9th rib. Apparently he won’t be back until July, which really means he won’t be back until August. Yesterday, I said I would bet my left nut that he wasn’t really hurt. Thankfully, that was only a figure of speech!
This is terrible news for the New York Yankees, especially when Ian Kennedy continues to look overmatched by major league hitters. Darrell Rasner or Kei Igawa will be starters for the next few months. Awesome!
Last night, on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight, Buster Olney said that Hughes might have broke his rib coughing. Coughing?!? Seriously, who breaks their rib by coughing? Look, Hughes is far too young and hasn’t pitched long enough to be labeled “injury prone.” He’s only 21, and his body is probably still developing. But at the beginning stages of his career, he’s already started traveling down a dangerous path, a path paved by oft injured players as Ben Sheets, Rich Harden, Ken Griffey Jr. in the 2nd half of his career, and Carl Pavano since he signed with the Yankees.
In Peter Abraham’s blog, http://yankees.lhblogs.com/, he wrote about Hughes’s injury plagued young career:
2005: Had two stints on the DL with shoulder inflammation.
2006: Only healthy season. Went 12-6 with a 2.16 ERA.
2007: Tore left hamstring on May 1 and did not return until Aug. 4.
2008: Stress fracture in rib cage.
5 years…4 injuries…not the best way to start off a young career.
To all Yankees fans who are worried about their team thus far: Fear Not! The Yankees have been in 3rd or worse at this point of the season 5 out of the last 5 years. How many times did they make the playoffs in those 5 years?
5 times!
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