With the addition of Pettitte to the rotation the speculation begins whether Hughes will stay in AAA or jump back into the starting rotation and Joba opening in the bullpen again. The belief of many fans is that Joba will be the fourth man in the rotation with Pettitte rounding it off.

There still is a slight chance, however, that Phillip Hughes beats out Joba in spring training and gets into the starting rotation. With the Yankees luck with starting pitchers over the last couple of seasons there is no doubt in my mind that at least one of the starters will go down to injury for a certain amount of time. So even if Hughes doesn’t start off in the rotation there is a very good chance that he is inserted for the first pitcher to fall.

I think I speak for all Yankees fans when I say I want to see Hughes in the majors again this season because he has some nice stuff and can be a dominant pitcher in this league. Only time will tell though how long Hughes has to wait in the wings again, but don’t expect it to be long.

This offseason has had its ups and downs but as of right now, more downs. Cashman’s goal from the start was to get this team back to being a championship contender by focusing on pitching, and somehow swinging Mark Teixera to come to the Bronx. 243 million dollars later, Joe Torre comes into the picture.

Torre’s book was not notable for his exquisite metaphors, inquisitive imagery, or anything of that manner. It was revealing the team’s feelings toward Alex Rodriguez, or as the team called him, “A-Fraud”. Now, most players denied these rumors that Torre brought about in his book, but after this past week perhaps Joe wasn’t just bitter about how he went out in New York. A-Rod has been boo’d and cheered during his tenure in NY, but what fuels fans to cheer for the superstar has been his production. A-Rod has to produce to keep NYC off his back, but when he doesn’t terms like A-Fraud come about. It’s the price you pay when you are a high profile athlete in a high profile town. Manny got the same heat and Boston and eventually left. Some players just get tired of it and some players are fueled by it, and one of those players is A-Rod. Rodriguez loves the attention and will do anything to be in the spotlight, but this week I’m sure he wishes it was the late 90′s where he played in Seattle and was a rising star with absolutely no pressure.

A couple of years later he got his contract and cash he earned in Seattle and became a superstar for the Rangers. He played in Texas from 2001-03 where the Rangers finished last all three years. That is time he began juicing. He admitted this week to juicing all three years with the Rangers, but stopping after bolting for NY. Now, what I don’t understand is why would one feel more pressure to put up numbers in Texas, then in NY? Seems a little odd, but this is the Steroid Era in MLB so everything is odd and nobodies word is worth anything anymore, unless your name is Derek Jeter.

Moving forward, Torre may have stirred some people, but A-Rod testing positive for steroids stirred the entire country. With the regular season slowly creeping on us, I have to believe things in NY will not be much different for A-Rod. If he performs to the highest degree possible he’ll still be loved by the Yankee faithful, but if he gets off to a bad slump then it could be a long, draining year for Alex Rodriguez, and perhaps the Yankees as a whole.