A Few Interesting Transactions

Can you name the last Yankee pitcher to win a playoff game? Anyone? Phillip Hughes Game 3 of the ALDS against the Cleveland Indians. He now goes by Phil Hughes but the Yankees announced today that he will be heading back to the bullpen for the first time since that game. It ends up that was probably one of Phil Hughes' best performances in the major leagues: 3.2 no runs, no walks, 4 Ks in relief of Roger Clemens (Joba Chamberlain also gave up a run as a reliever, perish the thought).

The reason Phil Hughes is heading to the bullpen is the Yankees want Chien-Ming Wang to start (which he'll do tomorrow in place of CC). The impetus for the move was talked about by Peter Abraham earlier the day, and goes that Wang, if his ball is sinking, is still better than Phil Hughes--at this point. Hughes will stay in the bullpen on the team for a while, but may need to head back down to the minors at some point to stretch himself out if not opportunity exists for him to rejoing the rotation in the Bronx. River Ave Blues seems to confirm this via a Brian Cashman interview on the Michael Kay Show (they still allow him to do that?): if Wang pitches well and Bruney and Marte return, Hughes will go to the minors in two weeks. If Wang pitches poorly or Pettitte is more injured than he's letting on, then Hughes will stay and start.

The Yankees also stratched Mark Teixeira who hurt himself enacting revenge on a double play breakup last night. Let's hope it's nothing more than a night's injury because, otherwise, it's not really a great play. You want guys to show passion, but play smart as well (ie--don't be like Kevin Brown who once punched a brick wall with his pitching hand).

Other moves:
-Supposedly the Atlanta Braves release Tom Glavine to save a little bit of money according to Ken Rosenthal. Both Shysterball and I are both equally surprised. If it really is for the money, shame on Atlanta.

-Speaking of Atlanta, they went and got themselves an outfielder (finally!). It's a surprise name, though--Nate McLouth. I don't think this is what he had in mind when he signed an extension to stay there. The Pirates GM tries to explain but it seems like a case of the Pirates just continuing to want to stockpile prospects in hopes of getting out of their losing ways. I wouldn't fault McLouth for being peaved, though.

-MLBTradeRumors goes over the trades so far this season. The biggest name so far is Gwynn...Gwynn Jr. In one of the most awesome things to come to the blog world, Paul DePodesta explains why the Padres made the trade. I mean how cool is that? You always want to know what teams were thinking when they made deals and this is how you can find out.

-Lastly, another one of those early-season trades got this review from Jon Heyman: "New Mets pickup Lance Broadway, a former first-rounder with a great New York name, is throwing only 86-88 mph. Judging by recent activity, White Sox GM Ken Williams seems willing to purge their system of the picks of the previous scouting director."