Phil Hughes

Phil Hughes Announces Retirement

By TC Zencka | January 3, 2021 at 5:59pm CDT

Phil Hughes officially announced his retirement from baseball today via Twitter. Hughes last pitched in the Majors in 2018 as a member of the San Diego Padres. While his final 16 appearances came out of the Padres bullpen, the No. 23 overall pick of the 2004 draft spent most of his 12-year career split between the Yankees and Twins.

In his own words, Hughes begins his announcement by saying, “While it’s been fairly apparent to most over these last couple years, I’d like to officially announce my retirement from baseball. Through many ups and downs over 12 years, I look back and am incredibly proud of what I was able to accomplish.”

Hughes took some time finding his way, and he ultimately leaves the game as an underrated hurler. After debuting in pinstripes during the 2007 season, he became linked in many minds to Joba Chamberlain as a pair of promising arms that didn’t pan out quite as intended for the Yankees. That said, Hughes has plenty to be proud of after carving out a successful big league career.

He was prematurely crowned a future ace for the Yankees, but he nevertheless developed as a significant contributor setting up games for Mariano Rivera during New York’s 2009 title run. Hughes posted a 3.03 ERA/3.22 FIP over 86 innings that season, including nine appearances in the postseason.

Hughes would settle in as a starter during a four-year run from 2012 to 2015. His best year came in 2014, his first with the Twins in which he logged 209 2/3 frames with a 3.52 ERA/2.65 FIP and an ML-leading 11.63 K/BB rate and a 7th-place Cy Young finish. Injuries and circumstances may have altered Hughes’ ultimate trajectory, but his emergence in Minnesota became a feel-good story for as long as his health allowed.

In total, the 34-year-ol Hughes retires with 11.2 bWAR, but 17.7 fWAR, indicating his ultimate work level might have been underappreciated at the time. He spent seven seasons with the Yankees and five with the Twins, with one All-Star appearances in 2010. Congrats to Hughes on a long and successful career.

Padres Release Phil Hughes

By Steve Adams | August 16, 2018 at 1:52pm CDT

The Padres have released right-hander Phil Hughes following his recent DFA, tweets A.J. Cassavell of MLB.com. He’s now a free agent and can sign with any club for the pro-rated league minimum.

Hughes, who recently turned 32, was traded from the Twins to the Padres alongside a Competitive Balance draft pick in exchange for minor league catcher Janigson Villalobos earlier this season. As part of the trade, San Diego agreed to take on $7.25MM of Hughes’ $13.2MM salary for the 2019 season. In effect, the Padres were purchasing an extra draft pick (No. 74 overall) from the Twins, though San Diego did keep Hughes around to see if he could return to form in a new setting.

That, unfortunately for both team and player, did not prove to be the case. Hughes improved his strikeout and walk numbers substantially in his time with the Padres, but he remained alarmingly homer-prone and ultimately posted a 6.10 ERA in 20 2/3 innings there. It marked the continuation of a rapid, four-year decline for Hughes that is undoubtedly tied to significant injury issues.

Hughes originally signed a three-year, $24MM contract with Minnesota as a free agent prior to the 2014 season. He fell one third of an inning shy of reaching the final incentive threshold in his first season with the Twins and garnered quite a bit of attention when he declined to pitch in relief over the season’s final weekend as a means of crossing that 210-inning line. Hughes was rewarded for a terrific first season in Minnesota all the same — tearing up the remaining two years of his deal and inking a five-year, $58MM contract that offseason.

It was a significant show of faith from the Twins organization, though one could hardly argue with Hughes’ 2014 results. He pitched to a 3.52 ERA in 209 2/3 innings and set the all-time record for K/BB ratio that season (11.63) when he racked up 186 punchouts against a minuscule 16 walks. Hughes spent considerable time on the disabled list in each of the next two seasons, however, and he ultimately underwent surgery to alleviate thoracic outlet syndrome in 2016.

Hughes returned to the Twins in 2017 with the hope that the surgery would correct the numbness he’d been experiencing in his pitching hand — a common side effect of TOS — but his symptoms persisted, and he underwent a revision of his TOS surgery later that summer.

In all, Hughes has pitched to a 5.18 ERA in 300 2/3 innings over the past four seasons. He’s tried to reinvent himself along the way, throwing a changeup more heavily at times and, in 2018, attempting to rely more on cutters and two-seamers than his diminished four-seamer. The results haven’t been there for Hughes, though, and he’ll now presumably look to latch on with another organization in hope of overcoming the injury woes that have plagued him in recent seasons.

Padres Designate Phil Hughes, Select Jacob Nix

By Jeff Todd | August 10, 2018 at 4:34pm CDT

The Padres announced that they have designated right-hander Phil Hughes for assignment. He’ll step aside in favor of young starter Jacob Nix, whose contract was selected.

Acquired earlier in the season in a swap that netted the Friars an extra draft choice, Hughes struggled quite a bit during his brief time in San Diego. In 16 appearances, the former starter allowed 14 earned runs on thirty base hits — including seven long balls.

Hughes did manage 24 strikeouts against just five walks in his 20 2/3 innings with the Pads, but he has missed bats less than he has missed barrels when opposing hitters have made contact. On the season as a whole, the 32-year-old is allowing a whopping 54.1% hard-hit rate. Indeed, Statcast even suggests Hughes has been fortunate, charging him with a .454 xwOBA-against that dwarfs the (already-hefty) .404 wOBA figure that batters have actually produced.

Needless to say, a run of recent injuries has taken quite a toll on a pitcher who had reemerged with the Twins after ending his tenure with the Yankees. Under the terms of the agreement that brought Hughes to the Padres, the organization is responsible for $7.25MM of the remaining salary owed to the righty under his extension with the Twins. The Minnesota org is still on the hook for a chunk of the $13.2MM he’s playing for this year and the balance of the same amount for 2019. While the Twins’ obligations are fixed, the Padres can still save some cash (albeit only a pro-rated portion of the league minimum salary) if Hughes ends up pitching for another club.

Nix was also a high-school star in California, but he’s ten years Hughes’s junior. He famously saw a deal with the Astros torn up when they failed to sign 1-1 pick Brady Aiken back in 2014, though he reached a settlement with Houston and ended up back in the draft in the ensuing winter. Nix went to the Padres in the third round.

Now in his third full season as a professional, Nix has taken a step forward in the results department. Though he has been limited to ten starts in the upper minors this year due to injury, his most recent outing was his first at the Triple-A level. Through 58 2/3 innings in 2018, Nix has allowed just 39 base hits and owns a sparkling 1.84 ERA with 6.8 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9.

NL West Notes: Padres, Hughes, Stripling, Duplantier

By Steve Adams | June 4, 2018 at 3:23pm CDT

The Padres’ acquisition of Phil Hughes was clearly more about acquiring the Twins’ competitive balance draft pick than the pitcher himself, and GM A.J. Preller and scouting director Mark Conner spoke to MLB.com’s A.J Cassavell about the swap. Preller told Cassavell that he’s been calling every team that received pick in the competitive balance lottery on a near-weekly basis in an attempt to acquire an additional selection — something that’s long been a priority but was magnified in 2018 after San Diego surrendered a pick to sign Eric Hosmer. “The game now is about making your money work for you,” said Preller. “…You have to figure out what’s the best bang for your buck. Having the extra pick gives you more options.”

The move was met by excitement from Conner and his scouts, who’ll now not only have an extra pick (No. 74 overall) but an additional $812,200 in their draft pool. The Padres, of course, spent considerably more than that to obtain the pick, relieving the Twins of just over $7.6MM of Hughes’ salary. While it seems a shrewd (albeit expensive) pickup of a resource with limited availability, not every organization agrees; one exec from another club told FanRag’s Jon Heyman last week that the Padres were “insane” for taking on that much of the remaining contract to obtain the pick.

Padres Acquire Phil Hughes

By Connor Byrne | May 27, 2018 at 4:51pm CDT

4:51pm: $7.25MM is the precise sum, Jon Heyman of FanRag hears.

1:54pm: The Padres will pick up approximately $7.5MM of Hughes’ contract, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com tweets.

1:05pm: The Padres have acquired right-hander Phil Hughes, cash and the 74th pick in June’s draft from the Twins for young catcher Janigson Villalobos, per announcements from both teams.

The Twins designated Hughes for assignment earlier this week, even though they still owed him the rest of his $13.2MM salary this year and another $13.2MM in 2019. Now, Minnesota will eat the remainder of Hughes’ salary this year, but San Diego will pay nearly half the tab next season, AJ Cassavell of MLB.com suggests.

In a best-case scenario for the rebuilding Padres, the 31-year-old Hughes would reemerge as a viable starter or reliever with the club. However, there doesn’t seem to be much hope on either front, given that Hughes has recently undergone two different surgeries to address thoracic outlet syndrome – which is often a death knell for pitchers. Those procedures ended each of Hughes’ previous two seasons prematurely, and have played a role in the bloated 5.99 ERA he has logged across 124 2/3 innings (33 appearances, 22 starts) since 2016.

While Hughes is certainly the eye-catching name in this trade, acquiring the pick in Competitive Balance Round B is the greater boon for San Diego. The Padres now have four of the draft’s top 85 choices, including Nos. 7 and 38, with which to add to an already deep farm system. The Friars’ newest selection carries a slot value of $812,200, and adding it will help make up for the pick they lost when they signed free-agent first baseman Eric Hosmer in the offseason.

Villalobos, a Venezuela native, immigrated to the United States when he signed a deal with the Padres in March 2016. He went on to post a .253/.408/.322 line in 233 plate appearances at the Rookie level from 2016-17, though the 21-year-old hasn’t played anywhere this season. He’ll suit up for the Rookie level Gulf Coast Twins when their season begins.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Twins Designate Phil Hughes

By Jeff Todd | May 22, 2018 at 10:40am CDT

TODAY: Outfielder Ryan LaMarre is coming back up for the Twins, Dan Hayes of The Athletic tweets.

YESTERDAY: The Twins have designated righty Phil Hughes, per a club announcement (as Phil Miller of the Star Tribune was among those to tweet). Manager Paul Molitor says the organization has not asked whether Hughes would waive his right to reject a minor-league assignment, as Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press reports on Twitter.

It seems, then, as if this is the beginning of the end of Hughes’s tenure in Minnesota. The club will have seven days to find a taker via trade. Otherwise, Hughes will go on the waiver wire. He’s sure to clear, given his contract, though he would not need to accept an assignment to Triple-A in order to keep the money he’s guaranteed.

The Twins still owe Hughes the balance of a $13.2MM salary this year and another $13.2MM for the 2019 season. That’s what’s left of the five-year extension he signed in December of 2014, which overwrote the rest of the three-year deal that Hughes signed with Minnesota as a free agent in the prior winter.

Students of hot stove history will recall that sequence rather well. Hughes had seemed likely to sign a make-good deal after a disappointing end to his tenure with the Yankees in 2013. But he went with a $24MM guarantee over a trio of campaigns with Minnesota, then made good on the contract in year one by spinning 209 2/3 innings of 3.52 ERA ball, with an unbelievable 186:16 K/BB ratio.

Unfortunately, the second pact — which boosted Hughes’s overall compensation while expanding the team’s control — just never worked out. He turned in 155 1/3 innings of 4.40 ERA pitching in 2015, but since has managed only a 5.99 ERA in 124 2/3 frames.

Health has been a major factor in recent seasons. Hughes requried two significant procedures to address thoracic outlet procedure, ending both his 2016 and 2017 seasons. He also dealt with knee and biceps injuries.

Twins To Promote Fernando Romero

By Jeff Todd | April 30, 2018 at 5:03pm CDT

Twins skipper Paul Molitor announced today that the club would promote top pitching prospect Fernando Romero to join the rotation, as Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN was among those to tweet. He’ll take the ball on Wednesday night.

Romero, 23, has steadily moved up the ladder since entering the Twins’ system in 2012. He cracked the top-100 prospect lists of MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus entering the current season, following a year in which he threw 125 innings of 3.53 ERA ball, with 8.6 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 along with a 52.0% groundball rate, at the Double-A level.

The results have continued into the 2018 season, as Romero has now held opposing teams to a 2.57 earned run average through 21 frames in his first few outings at the Triple-A level. He’s continuing to get plenty of groundballs with his high-velocity sinker, though his 20:10 K/BB ratio isn’t exactly scintillating and may hint at the need for further refinement of his slider and change.

Some prospect hounds see some risk in Romero’s profile, particularly as to whether he’ll have long-term health issues and/or whether he’ll stick in the rotation. For now, though, they’ll bet on his talent with the organization badly in need of a shot in the arm after a 9-14 start to the season.

Fellow righty Phil Hughes will be bumped into a relief role to accommodate Romero’s move into the rotation, though a roster move has yet to be announced. Hughes was knocked around in two poor starts to open the year, and is coming off of two consecutive poor and injury-plagued seasons, so he’ll look to get back on track in the bullpen.

AL Notes: Manaea, Red Sox, Bogaerts, Rays, Twins

By Connor Byrne | April 21, 2018 at 10:35pm CDT

The Red Sox entered play Saturday with the majors’ best record (17-2), the majors’ most runs (123) and the majors’ top triple-slash line (.293/.361/.497). None of that fazed Athletics left-hander Sean Manaea, who no-hit the Red Sox over nine innings of 10-strikeout, two-walk ball to become the first hurler to accomplish the feat this year. It’s the seventh no-hitter in Athletics history and the first for the franchise since Dallas Braden tossed a perfect game against Tampa Bay in May 2010. And remarkably, it occurred on nearly the 25th-year anniversary of the last time the Red Sox were on the wrong end of a no-hitter. Back on April 22, 1993, Chris Bosio of the Mariners held the Sox out of the hit column.

In better news for the Red Sox, shortstop Xander Bogaerts could return as early as Friday, Sean McAdam of BostonSportsJournal.com was among those to report (Twitter link). Bogaerts, who went on the disabled list April 9 with a cracked bone in his left ankle, is set to play a pair of rehab games with Triple-A Pawtucket on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Red Sox have won nine of 11 without Bogaerts, which is all the more impressive when considering he got off to an otherworldly start (.368/.400/.711 in 40 plate appearances) before landing on the DL.
Meanwhile, teammate Tyler Thornburg is “still a ways away from the majors,” Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe tweets. But the reliever, who has been pitching in extended spring training, will rejoin the Red Sox during their upcoming homestand (beginning April 27) and could throw batting practice, per Abraham. Thornburg remains on the mend from the thoracic outlet syndrome surgery he underwent last summer. The righty hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2016, when he was among the game’s premier relievers as a member of the Brewers.
Rays righty Yonny Chirinos is now a full-fledged member of their rotation, manager Kevin Cash told Bill Chastain of MLB.com and other reporters Saturday. Tampa Bay opened the season with an unconventional three-man starting staff (Chris Archer, Blake Snell and Jake Faria), with Chirinos among those working as a “Bullpen Day” starter, but it saw enough from him during his first few outings to officially make it a four-man group. The 24-year-old has tallied 20 innings of 2.70 ERA/3.49 FIP ball in four appearances thus far. After throwing 50-some pitches in each of his first two games, Chiirnos racked up 75 and 89, respectively, in the previous two. He’s now stretched out enough to get into the 100 range, per Cash, and will start Sunday against Minnesota.
Chirinos will face Twins righty Phil Hughes, whom the team has reinstated from the disabled list. The Twins optioned pitcher Gabriel Moya to Triple-A to make room for Hughes, who had been on the shelf with a strained oblique. The 31-year-old Hughes hasn’t pitched in a big league game since July 14, 2017, thanks to the thoracic outlet syndrome revision surgery he underwent in August. At $13.2MM per year through next season, Hughes is one of the Twins’ highest-paid players, though he has struggled mightily since a sensational 2014 with the team. When he was healthy enough to pitch last season, Hughes logged a 5.87 ERA with a meager 30.7 percent groundball rate over 53 2/3 innings (14 appearances, seven starts).

Injury Updates: Kinsler, Hughes, Nationals

By Mark Polishuk | March 27, 2018 at 8:24pm CDT

The latest on some injury situations from around baseball…

Angels manager Mike Scioscia told The Athletic’s Pedro Moura and other reporters that Ian Kinsler has been battling some groin tightness and may not be able to play on Opening Day. Zack Cozart has played second base in each of the last two nights for Anaheim and could potentially fill the role during the season if Kinsler is out, though that would leave a vacancy at Cozart’s expected position of third base. It isn’t yet known if Kinsler will require any DL time, though Kaleb Cowart would be the probable replacement since he is already on the 40-man roster and could most easily slide into the infield mix.
The Twins will place right-hander Phil Hughes on the disabled list to begin the season, manager Paul Molitor told reporters (including The Athletic’s Dan Hayes). Hughes is still recovering from a left oblique strain, and there is a chance he could be ready to return when the Twins need a fifth starter on April 11. Hughes is looking to rebound after two seasons marred by thoracic outlet syndrome procedures, and if he doesn’t end up in Minnesota’s rotation, he could potentially step into a long relief role.
The Nationals made a series of expected DL placements today, announcing that Daniel Murphy and Joaquin Benoit will begin the season on the 10-day disabled list. Right-hander Koda Glover will be placed on the 60-day DL, thus opening a roster spot for Miguel Montero, whose contract was officially selected. Montero was already told over the weekend that he would be breaking camp as the Nats’ backup catcher, and in making the 25-man roster will now earn $1.3MM for the season as per the terms of his minor league contract with the team. Murphy is still recovering from knee surgery last fall, Benoit has a forearm strain and Glover has been bothered by shoulder issues.

Injury Notes: Sale, Pomeranz, Rodriguez, Gregerson, Lincecum, Hughes

By Kyle Downing | March 24, 2018 at 4:03pm CDT

Red Sox starter Chris Sale left today’s start after being struck by a comebacker off the bat of J.D. Davis. Chad Jennings of the Boston Herald was first to tweet that the club called it a hip contusion. Thankfully for fans in Boston, the X-rays on his hip came back negative (according to Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe). For his part, Sale himself has said that he feels fine and that it “looked a lot worse than it actually is.” The lack of serious injury to their prized left-hander brings a sigh of relief to the Red Sox, as they need him now more than ever; Alex Cora announced today that both Eduardo Rodriguez and Drew Pomeranz will begin the season on the DL (h/t Sean McAdams of the Boston Sports Journal). With Steven Wright set to face a 15-game suspension, that leaves Brian Johnson and Hector Velazquez at the back end of the club’s rotation. With David Price no sure bet to stay healthy, any questions surrounding Sale would have been wildly unsettling for a club hoping to compete with a tough Yankees ballclub for the AL East crown.

Other injury-related news from around the league…

Luke Gregerson, who was projected to be the Cardinals’ closer on opening day, will instead begin the season on the DL. Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch outlines the news, which comes as a result of a hamstring strain. The usually-durable Gregerson had also dealt with an oblique injury earlier in the spring, and it’s unclear when he’ll be able to return to major-league action. According to Jon Morosi of MLB.com, the club has said that Dominic Leone or Tyler Lyons will receive closing opportunities. They do not appear close to any sort of deal with free agent closer Greg Holland at this time, Morosi adds.
Speaking of right-handers who’ll begin the season on the DL, Tim Lincecum’s blister issues will put him in that company as well. Lincecum joined the Rangers on a one-year deal with a $1MM base salary just weeks ago and didn’t pitch competitively in 2017; by his own words, he was unlikely to be ready for opening day anyway. Still, the blister issue will delay The Freak’s comeback bid, which will be an interesting story to watch as the season progresses considering how much he impressed scouts in a February showcase. Lincecum’s last MLB stint was with the Angels in 2016, when he posted a 9.16 ERA across 38 1/3 innings (nine starts).
Twins right-hander Phil Hughes has a mild oblique strain, according to a tweet from Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press. Berardino adds that a DL stint would give him more time to build up arm strength following surgery, though I’d add that Hughes might simply be utilized in a long relief role anyway. For the time being, the Twins will continue to evaluate Hughes.

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