The right-hander will miss a few weeks with back problems.
New York Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild, left, talks with Phil Hughes during a recent workout. Hughes will begin the season on the disabled list.
By ANTHONY WITRADO
Seriously, it is difficult to imagine the New York Yankees’ outlook becoming much worse before opening day.
The team has already taken major hits with injuries to Michael Pineda, Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter and the pricey acquisition of Vernon Wells.
On Wednesday, the mountain of misfortune grew higher when it was announced that right-hander Phil Hughes (back) will start the season on the disabled list and miss a few weeks. A short absence shouldn’t hurt the Yankees too much given the way their early-season schedule is set up.
The reason Wells makes the hit list is because he has been a well below-average player three of the last four seasons and the Yankees didn’t get him as cheaply as they should have. They will pay him nearly $14 million of the $42 million he is owed over the next two seasons, a figure that is way higher than was speculated when word of the trade leaked.
The Yankees were only interested in Wells because they have lost so much power from last season. The team even tried to lure first baseman Derrek Lee out of retirement. That’s how desperate things became for general manager Brian Cashman.
Because of all the attrition, the Yankees don’t have the firepower to overcome too many pitching woes. If Hughes’ back injury lingers any longer than the first couple of weeks of April, the Yankees are in more trouble than they already seem to be. Of course, this is all assuming CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte’s spring training struggles don’t carry over into the regular season, too.
For the first time in recent memory, the Yankees are not the favorites in either their division or in the wild-card chase, or at least they aren’t with their current crop of healthy bodies.