Posts tagged PhillipHughes at FanHouse

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

New York Yankees (28-29) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (31-28) - 7:05PM Est.

Today is the day that Yankees fans have been waiting for all season. After deciding against making a trade for Johan Santana this off-season, and instead choosing to go with youngsters Phillip Hughes and Ian Kennedy, the Yankees find themselves just trying to get back to .500.

You see, even though the merits of the decision to not go after Santana are still up for debate, there's no question that Hughes and Kennedy have sucked (the duo has combined to go 0-7 with a 7.99 ERA in 14 starts). The magnitude of their suck has been so great that it would take a very large man with a blazing fastball to counteract it.

That's where Joba Chamberlain comes in, as the starter turned set-up man turned starter again makes his first start as a member of the New York Yankees tonight at Yankee Stadium.

With all of the talk about the Red Sox getting into the bidding for Johan Santana, part of me kind of thought it was just their way of forcing the Yankees' hand and essentially making them throw Phillip Hughes into the deal. There may be more to it, however, because today Buster Olney is reporting that the Sox have upped their offer to the Twins to include Jacoby Ellsbury, who kind of seemed to be off limits before today:

With the Minnesota Twins insisting on center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury in any trade for pitcher Johan Santana, the Red Sox have altered their offer and have told the Twins they are willing to include the outfielder.

But sources say the Red Sox have also told the Twins they will not trade left-handed pitcher Jon Lester and Ellsbury together in the package they are offering.

Then Buster hits us with this:

The Yankees, meanwhile, have informed the Twins that they are going to pull their offer off the table soon -- perhaps by Tuesday at the latest -- unless they get an answer. The Yankees changed their offer on Friday, adding pitcher Phil Hughes after much internal debate, to go along with Melky Cabrera and a third prospect.

The Yankees have to have the best offer on the table by far simply by including Hughes. I would think the Red Sox would have to go with Clay Buchholz AND Ellsbury with a third prospect to even come close to matching Hughes, Melky, third prospect. Since the Sox aren't even willing to party with Lester and Ellsbury, I'd say the Yankees are still firmly in the Santana derby lead.