Rest Assured: Could Innings Limit Bar Hughes from All Star Game?

As Phil Hughes, the Yankees young ace in the making takes the mound tonight, he will look to add to his All Star credentials, but the Yankees and Joe Girardi may have other thoughts.

Hughes has been brilliant this season, only Andy Pettitte has been better in the Yankees rotation and to this point, Hughes' numbers could warrant a trip on what could be a jam packed charter plane of Yankees headed for Anaheim this July.

Before tonight's start against the Orioles, Hughes' six wins were good for second in the AL. He is fifth in the league with a 2.70 ERA, third in WHIP at 1.06 and has a team leading 57 strikeouts in just 56.2 innings of work, not bad for a guy making his first full run as a starting pitcher.

But even though his numbers seem deserving, if he is not voted one of the five top starters by the players, Hughes' fate as an All Star will be directly in the hands of his (and the AL team's) manager and taking him could be risky.

The Yankees, for better or worse have put Hughes on an innings limit this season, likely somewhere around 175. While in typical Joe Girardi fashion nothing has been released, it has been rumored that the team is planning on using scheduled off days surrounding and including the All Star break to give Hughes a sort of "midseason rest" helping to limit his innings and keep him strong for the stretch run.

If this is indeed the case, Girardi is caught between a rock and a hard place. If he selects Hughes for the game, he doesn't need to have him actually pitch, but in baseball, the all star game decides home field advantage for the World Series so having useable pitchers on the roster is certainly a factor. If he doesn't take Hughes he runs the risk of upsetting his young star, especially if Hughes clearly deserves it.

Frankly I am not a fan of innings limits in general, though I do believe this plan makes worlds more sense than the disaster employed to ruin Joba Chamberlain last year. My view is let him pitch in the game, one or two innings won't hurt Hughes and in fact with a long layoff, getting some meaningless innings in might actually help keep him fresh.

Girardi however, has the final call and if Hughes is lucky, the call will be his name on the bullpen phone.