MLB Trade Rumors: Colorado Rockies Should Avoid Deal With Yankees for Phil Hughes

By Michael Moraitis--Featured Columnist

The Colorado Rockies find themselves right in the hunt for the National League West crown and as a result, the team may be looking to add New York Yankees starter Phil Hughes to help bolster their pitching staff.

According to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com, the Rockies are looking to add the Yanks' starter, but would prefer to use him as a reliever instead. Hughes has already made 18 starts for New York this season and has yet to come out of the bullpen during the regular season the last two years.

On the surface, the deal makes perfect sense for the Rockies.

Not only would Hughes greatly help the back end of the Rockies bullpen--which as a whole ranks No. 18 in the MLB in ERA--but he would also be a key pitcher as Colorado makes a run at the division just 4.5 games back going into Monday.

There's no question all of those factors make a move for Hughes a no-brainer and he's already proven himself to have elite stuff as a 7th or 8th inning pitcher, and even as a reliever when necessary, but Hughes may not want to be in any of those roles at all.

It's quite evident that despite all of his success in the bullpen during his career, Hughes wants to be in the starting rotation no matter how poorly he's pitched the past few seasons.

If the Rockies were to make a deal for Hughes and try to force him to become something he doesn't want to be, that could create plenty of turmoil in Colorado's locker room and that's something a team chasing a division simply can't deal with.

Furthermore, Hughes will be a free agent at the end of the season and giving up any key young players or even current impact players for his services is risky at best for the Rockies. They could end up losing him for nothing, which would become more certain if he's unhappy with his role on the team.

Another negative for Hughes whether he's a starter or in the bullpen is that he is a fly ball pitcher and gives up homers on a regular basis. That's especially dangerous late in games when the score is close and a runner is on, no matter if he's a reliever or a starter.

In his last start, Hughes allowed four earned runs and three homers in total.

In 2012, Hughes allowed 35 homers in 191.1 innings as a starter and in 2013 he's on pace to do pretty much the same having allowed 18 homers in 102.1 innings pitched. Things aren't likely to get any better even if he does become a starter for the Rockies because as we all know, Coors Field is one of the most friendly hitter parks in the history of the game.

Hughes is the kind of pitcher that becomes more of a liability as he goes through an opposing lineup multiple times because he simply doesn't throw that many pitches, thus hitters can pick up on his stuff later on in games and do some serious damage.

As a Yankees fan, I have been screaming for years that Hughes has better stuff as a reliever and he shouldn't be a starter, but obviously my opinion doesn't matter and Hughes' opinion likely hasn't changed in regards to starting games as opposed to helping finish them.

With such an uncertain future whether it be his impending free agency and/or his potential displeasure with a role change upon coming to Colorado, the Rockies are better served to look elsewhere for help because a move like this has the potential to blow up right in their face.