Perhaps the shellacking he received on Friday at the hands of the Boston Red Sox will get their attention.

Hughes was absolutely torched by the Red Sox, giving up seven hits, six runs and two walks in just two innings of work. He only induced one swing-and-miss and, once again, his velocity was suspect.

For the second start in a row, Hughes averaged only 89 mph. If his velocity continues at this pace, it will mark the third year in a row that the velocity on his fastball has taken a dip. In 2009 his fastball was coming in at 93 mph and last year his fastball was averaging 91 mph.

Hughes clearly hasn’t figured out how to compensate for his lack of velocity and you almost have to wonder if it’s in his head.

After the game, Hughes was quoted as saying: “Obviously I know it’s not there and I’m trying to make up for it somehow, and I’m not locating the ball as well as I need to. Just a lot of issues going on right now, but nothing that I can do about it except try to work hard, get back at it and hopefully try to get back on track and figure some things out.”

Whether it’s the weather, a lack of arm strength or the fact that his pitch count last year doubled his 2009 total (1,459 to 3,007), Hughes had better figure things out quick.

In New York, the patience meter doesn’t move slowly.

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1. C.C. Sabathia

2. Phil Hughes

3. A.J. Burnett

4. Ivan Nova

5. Freddy Garcia

One through four is no surprise, but the fifth starter is. I am really surprised Garcia got the nod over Bartolo Colon.

Girardi’s logic? “The innings that Freddy logged in, the wins last year, he stayed healthy all of last year,” Girardi said through the NY Daily News.

As we all know, that thinking makes absolutely no sense. I don’t know how you judge a pitcher on A. wins and B. the amount of innings logged last season.

I thought you would make a decision based on who gives you the best chance to win in 2011. But that’s just me.

While neither are anywhere near what they used to be eight years ago, I thought Colon would have been a better choice.

I thought overall he looked better than Garcia did this spring. Colon had 17 K’s and a 2.40 ERA in 15 spring innings, while Garcia struck out 12 and had a 5.93 ERA in 13.2 innings.

Colon will serve as the Yankees’ “Swing man” in 2011. They are hoping he will grow into the role and be their next Ramiro Mendoza or Alfredo Aceves.

I guess my question are; if the Yankees want Colon to be the next Aceves, why not just keep Aceves? And do they want Colon to grow anymore?

Kevin Millwood could factor into things as the season progresses as well. He signed a minor league deal with the Yankees yesterday.

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First it was Jonathan Lucroy going down with a broken pinky, then on Friday, Jason Castro blew out his knee, and now Francisco Cervelli fractures his left foot.

Cervelli injured himself when he fouled a ball off his left foot on Wednesday.  The injury will sideline Cervelli for the next six-to-eight weeks.

Normally, I wouldn’t write about a ham n’ egger like Cervelli, but his injury could open the door for Jesus Montero or Austin Romine to serve as the New York Yankees’ backup catcher to Russell Martin come Opening Day.

One of them will most likely get the shot because manager Joe Girardi has made it perfectly clear that Jorge Posada will not be catching anytime soon.

Montero, the Yankees’ top hitting prospect, is my guess to win the backup spot. If you listen to the Yankees, they feel that Montero has improved enough defensively to handle a Major League pitching staff.

However, if you follow some of the minor league and prospect experts on Twitter, they will tell you he has a some ways to go before he be a solid defensive catcher in the majors.

In other Yankee news, I watched Mark Prior pitch last night against the Boston Red Sox. It was definitely odd to say the least.

It wasn’t so much odd seeing Prior in a Yankee uniform, but it was odd to see him now pitch from the stretch full-time, only be able to hit 90 mph on occasion, and no longer have any bite to his curveball.

His curve had some nice movement on it, but wasn’t sharp enough to get anyone to bite.

He will start the year in the minors in the hopes of working his way up to the Yankees and maybe working out of the bullpen.

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One of the pitchers trying to win one of the spots in the Yankees’ rotation is Bartolo Colon. Colon, who didn’t pitch in a single game in 2010, got the first shot to impress Joe Girardi and the rest of the Yankees’ coaching staff on Saturday.

The Yankees played their first preseason game against the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday, and Colon got the start. Let me rephrase that: The Yankee starters were playing the Phillies’ ham n’ egger squad. The only regulars to make the trip for the Phillies were Ryan Howard, Raul Ibanez and Domonic Brown.

It was determined before the game that Colon would go two innings or throw 35 pitches. Remarkably, he did both.

Colon pitched two innings and gave up two hits, one walk and one run and didn’t strike out a batter. He threw 36 pitches, and 23 of them were for strikes. The damage could have been worse, but Howard just missed a HR off a mediocre fastball by two feet in the first.

While I understand it was just the first spring training game and it was Colon’s first appearance, every appearance counts for him, and I came away unimpressed with Colon’s performance.

Colon was consistently throwing 88-89 mph, only induced a couple of swings and misses and failed to show major league-quality secondary pitches. He did let one go at 93 mph to Ross Gload in the first but never hit that mark again in his two innings of work.

A pitcher can get away with throwing 88-89, but he needs those secondary pitches to be successful. Colon did throw a couple of cutters and changeups, but neither of those pitches had any bite to them. Developing a successful secondary pitch might be difficult for Colon because even in his prime Colon was throwing 80 percent fastballs.

Colon is competing with Ivan Nova, Sergio Mitre and Freddy Garcia for the final spots in the Yankees rotation. If he plans to beat any of those guys out, he is going to have to show more in his future starts than he did on Saturday.

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As most of us know by now, New York Yankees LHP Andy Pettitte officially called it quits on Friday. Pettitte retired with a career record of 240-138 with a 3.88 ERA and 1.36 WHIP in 16 seasons with the Yankees and Houston Astros.

Now that Pettitte is done playing baseball, there are only two questions left to answer:

1. How will the Yankees replace him in the rotation?
2. Is Pettitte a Hall of Famer?

Let’s answer the first question first.

In regards to improving their starting rotation, the Yankees’ offseason has been an unmitigated disaster. They lost out on their No. 1 priority in Cliff Lee, and now the mainstay in their rotation retires.

The Yankees rotation now consists of CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes, A.J. Burnett, Ivan Nova and Sergio Mitre. They also have gray-beards Freddy Garcia, Mark Prior and Bartolo Colon competing for spots in the rotation as well.

This Yankees rotation has more holes in it than a Mel Gibson apology.

Where is the consistency in this Yankee rotation? If Sabathia is not on the mound, who is the guy to stop a three- or four-game losing streak?

New Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothchild said in a recent interview that he believes Burnett can turn things around. Okay, I will believe that when I see it. Burnett certainly has the talent, but the only person who has ever gotten through to him was Roy Halladay.

Rothchild will certainly have his hands full in his first season in the Bronx.

I fully expect the Yankees to go out and acquire a back-of-the-rotation type of starter. They could sign someone like Kevin Millwood or trade for guys like Joe Saunders, Joe Blanton or Scott Kazmir. The pitcher who might be the best fit for the Yankees would be Fausto Carmona, but I think the Cleveland Indians will go into the season with him.

The second question concerning Pettitte and the one that has the baseball community on Twitter in a heated debate is: Is Pettitte a Hall of Famer?

The simple answer to that question is no.

Let’s take his numbers and his playoff success out of the question for a second. Pettitte is a known user of PEDs. How have the other known users of PEDs done on the HOF ballot the last couple of years? Not very well I remind you.

The users I am referring to are Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro. Those two put up immortal numbers. And you can’t say, "Well, the only reason they put up those numbers is because of PEDs." You can say the same about Pettitte as well.

Pettitte was a very solid pitcher for a very long time. His playoff numbers speak for themselves. He was as clutch in Game 2’s as any pitcher in any game in playoff history.

Game 2 of a series was the Pettitte game. No matter what the Yankees did in Game 1, you knew Pettitte would either get them 2-0 or even the series at 1-1. He was that good in that game.

During the regular season, Pettitte was very solid and I think the best word to describe him was consistent. Pettitte never had that season that defined him like an Orel Hershiser in 1988 or Dwight Gooden in 1985. He was a very consistent pitcher on a team that allowed him to be one.

So why would two players who put up immortal numbers only receive 10-25 percent of the vote, but Pettitte get in? That makes no sense to me.

The voters have proven they won’t vote for guys who have used PEDs in the past. Pettitte won’t be any different.

To be a Hall of Famer, you need to have a chance to get into the HOF. And Pettitte won’t get into the HOF.

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Garcia was 12-6 with a 4.64 ERA, a 1.38 WHIP, and averaged 5.1 Ks/9 in 157 innings for the Chicago White Sox in 2010.

The Yankees have signed Mark Prior, Bartolo Colon, Andruw Jones and now Garcia this offseason. I will take "guys who were stars back in 2003," Alex.

Based on their trend of recent transactions, here are some other guys the Yankees are looking at to fill out their roster…

Brian Giles
Jim Edmonds
Garret Anderson
Carlos Delgado
Jeff Conine
Gary Sheffield
Javy Lopez
Ryan Klesko

Look for only Andruw Jones to make the Yankees roster out of spring training.

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As we go through February and head towards March and everyone’s fantasy draft, we will start pumping out more fantasy articles in preparation.

Today, we will take a look at five guys who had their fantasy value drop and in some cases, plummet because events that happened in this offseason.

Here are the top-five fantasy losers from this offseason and guys you might want to stay away from on draft day.

Rankings are in no particular order.

1. Rafael Soriano, New York Yankees. Soriano was a machine in 2010 with the Tampa Bay Rays. He had a 1.73 ERA, O.83 WHIP, and really helped fantasy owners out with 45 saves.

Depending on the format of your league, Soriano was the third or fourth best fantasy closer last season.

Now, unless Mariano Rivera gets hurt in The Bronx, Soriano has very little fantasy value heading into 2011 as a setup man.

2. Bobby Jenks, Boston Red Sox. Like Soriano above, Jenks was a closer last season and now finds himself as a setup man.

Despite having and up and down year with the White Sox in 2010, he did have 27 saves and 61 K’s in 52.2 IP.

Even if current Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon does continue to regress and get replaced, Jenks isn’t guaranteed to pick up the majority of the saves in Boston.

He still has to perform better than Daniel Bard to have that opportunity.

3. Jayson Werth, Washington Nationals. In most leagues, Werth was a top-10 outfielder in 2010 when he .296 with 27 HR’s, 85 RBI, 106 runs, and 13 SB’s.

But that was with the Philadelphia Phillies, playing the majority of his games in the very hitter friendly Citizens Bank Ballpark, and being surrounded by the likes of Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Shane Victorino, and Jimmy Rollins.

Now, outside of Ryan Zimmerman, Werth doesn’t have much around him. I expect his numbers to take a slight dip in 2011 and Werth moving from a top-10 outfielder to a top-15-to-20 outfielder.

4. Mitch Moreland, Texas Rangers. I like Moreland, I really do. I am a big fan. He hit nine HR’s with the Rangers last season in just 173 plate appearances.

If you take what he did over an 162 game schedule, Moreland was on a 31 HR, 86 RBI, 86 BB pace. Those stats would have made Moreland a top-15 fantasy first baseman in 2010.

Up until last week, I thought Moreland could have been a top-15 fantasy first baseman in 2011.

But now that Mike Napoli is in the mix, I don’t believe Moreland is going to get the AB’s he needs to be able to produce on a consistent basis. Now he ranks in the 25-30 range amongst first baseman.

5. Mike Cameron, Boston Red Sox. Cameron didn’t do much last season as an injury limited him to only 49 games.

When the 2010 season ended, Cameron figured he would get his centerfield job back. But now that the Red Sox have signed Carl Crawford, Cameron is the odd man out in Boston.

If Cameron was healthy and the everyday centerfielder for Boston in 2011, 20-25 HR’s and 10-15 SB’s wouldn’t have been out of the question.

He would have been a serviceable OF on your fantasy team. Now he will play only a couple of days a week and unless Crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury or J.D. Drew get hurt (very likely with Drew), Cameron has very little fantasy value.

Tomorrow, we will take a look at the top-five fantasy winners from this offseason.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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I didn’t see Wilson making a successful transition from reliever to starter, but man, was he good in 2010. Wilson had a 3.35 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and averaged 7.5 Ks/nine in 204 IP. Until Cliff Lee arrived, you can say Wilson was the ace of the Texas Rangers’ staff.

What was perhaps most impressive about Wilson’s transition from reliever to starter in 2010 was his consistency. Despite throwing 130 more innings than he had ever done before, his second half ERA was almost identical to his first half ERA—3.36 to 3.35.

Another reliever who is will try to do his best in 2011 to pull a Wilson is Detroit Tigers’ LHP Phil Coke. After appearing in 73 games last season as a reliever, Coke will be given a shot to start for the Tigers. Coke did start one game for the Tigers last season, but that was on the last game of the season, and he only went 1.2 innings as Jim Leyland was trying to get as many pitchers into the game as possible.

So the question is for Coke and Tiger fans, can he be as successful as Wilson was transitioning from a reliever to a starter? I believe the answer is yes.

First, if you take the task at hand in its simplest form, Coke might be more prepared than Wilson moving into the role. Before 2010, the last time Wilson started a game was back in 2005. That is an eon between starts.

Coke, on the other hand, was a starter throughout his minor league career with the New York Yankees. As late as 2008, Coke was making starts in Triple-A. He made 20 starts that season.

Those 20 starts just three years ago should give Coke an edge as he prepares to make the transition. The routine shouldn’t be lost on him.

Second, most relievers rely on two pitches to get hitters out. One advantage Wilson had in his transition was that he threw four pitches out of the pen. Out of the bullpen in 2009, Wilson threw a fastball (70 percent of the time), slider (18.5 percent), cutter (5.6 percent) and change (5.3 percent).

Coke has a similar repertoire.

Coke threw three types of pitches in 2010, one more than your average reliever. Coke threw a fastball (60.5 percent of the time), slider (24.5 percent) and a change (14.9.).

I do think if Coke is going to enjoy success in 2011, he is going to have to come up with another quality pitch. His WAR on his fastball in 2010 was 6.6, slider was -0.4I enj and change was 2.1. He is going to need to develop a cutter or really improve on his slider to get hitters out a second or third time throughout a game.

Wilson did a good job of mixing up his pitches. He increased the usage of his cutter to 18.6 percent and change to 16.7 percent, while decreased the usage of his fastball all the way down to 49.2 percent.

If Coke can make the successful transition from reliever to starter, the Tigers could really be in business in 2011. He might just be the “key” to the Tigers’ season.

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I have never seen a press conference where the GM of all people says he had no interest in signing the player. When Brian Cashman was holding up Soriano’s jersey, it looked like someone just told him Alex Rodriguez slept with his wife. It was really awkward.

And what added more awkwardness to the situation was how smug Randy Levine was throughout the whole process. His facial reactions were the polar opposite of those by Cashman.

Levine is becoming the poster child of why people hate the Yankees. He is like that kid in high school that knows nothing about baseball, but follows the Yankees because it’s the cool thing to do, and when the Yankees win he brags and gloats about it to the point where it becomes obnoxious and then you just want to punch him in the face.

That’s Levine and about 80 percent of the kids in high school in the New York area in a nutshell.

Now on the Jones signing.

The Yankees signed Jones to a one-year, $2 million contract. Jones can earn another $1.2 million in performance incentives.

If this signing occurred 10 years ago:

A. Jones wouldn’t be making just $2 million in base salary, and

B. This would be a "holy shnikies" signing.

The reality is, Andruw Jones, well, isn’t Andruw Jones anymore. He is a fourth outfielder at best, and that is the role he will serve with the Yankees.

Jones will be the 2011 version of the 2010 Marcus Thames for the Yankees. Like Thames, Jones will fill in for Brett Gardner or Curtis Granderson against tough left-handed pitchers.

Despite having a .724 OPS over the past three seasons, Jones can still hit left-handed pitching. The soon-to-be 34-year-old had a .931 OPS against left-handed pitching last season. He also had an impressive eight HRs in just 102 plate appearances against lefties in 2010.

Defensively, Jones is a shell of his former self. During his prime in center, Jones averaged around a 22.0 UZR. Now, he is posting a -1.7 UZR, like he did last season with the Chicago White Sox.

Watching Jones in center is like watching Ric Flair in TNA these days. It’s hard to watch because you remember what it used to be.

Despite that, I still expect Jones to fill in more often for Granderson than Gardner. Gardner is too good defensively to replace with the mediocre Jones.

In the role Jones will serve with the Yankees in 2011, he should do just fine.

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“What I can see the Yankees doing if they don’t bring back Pettitte or even if they do, is build a super bullpen. The best way to compensate for a weak (by Yankee standards) rotation, is to have a strong bullpen.

What would prevent the Yankees from signing Rafael Soriano and re-signing Kerry Wood? Soriano can’t find a home right now, so why not pair him up with Mariano Rivera? A Wood-Soriano-Rivera trifecta at the end of the game would be lethal.”

Almost one month to the day that I wrote that post, the Yankees have gone out and created a super bullpen. They didn’t re-sign Wood, but they will have two-thirds of my suggestion in 2011.

According to SI.com’s Jon Heyman, the Yankees have signed Rafael Soriano to a three-year, $35 million contract. In the terms of the contract, Soriano can opt out after the first year and the second year as well.

This is a deal that works out well for both sides.

For the Yankees, they get the best reliever on the market to pair with Rivera to give them the best one-two late-inning punch in baseball.

The Yankees’ bullpen will also feature the newly acquired Pedro Feliciano and mainstays Joba Chamberlain, David Robertson and Boone Logan.

Soriano had a monster year in 2010 with the Tampa Bay Rays. He had a 1.73 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, and 8.2 K’s in 62.1 IP. He was pretty much automatic in the ninth for the Rays.

The Yankees are hoping Soriano sticks around for the next two years, becomes Rivera’s little sidekick, and then takes over for him in 2013. That role was supposed to go to Chamberlain, but that ship has sailed.

Did the Yankees overpay for Soriano? Of course they did. But the Yankees overpay for everyone, so this shouldn’t come as a surprise.

For Soriano, this was a no-brainer move on his part. He gets the big contract he wanted, but also gets to opt out if he wants to try to earn another payday.

He probably won’t get as much money on a per-year basis next year on the open market, but he could get another year out of a deal.

My early prediction on this move is that Soriano will opt out after the 2011 season, won’t find anyone who will pay him the money and the years he is seeking, and will end up coming back to the Yankees under his current deal.

As a side note to this deal, the Yankees will have to surrender their 2011 first-round pick to the Rays. That will be the 31st pick in the draft.

The last 31st pick to be just as productive as Soriano? Some guy named Greg Maddux, who was drafted by the Chicago Cubs with the 31st pick in the 1984 Draft (tip o’ the hat to Kevin Goldstein for that tidbit).

The Rays now have three picks in the first round and nine picks before the second round starts. Their scouting department had better get to work.

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