The biggest news out of the New York Yankees spring training camp so far this spring has been the battle for the fifth spot in the club's rotation.
Among the five men battling for the spot, three stand out to me as potential starters for the Yankees come April. Those men would be Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Alfredo Aceves.
After the first few weeks only one has stood out as a potential fifth starter and that is Alfredo Aceves.
Chamberlain and Hughes have both had their struggles and it is obvious that neither are ready to be a full—time starter.
Chamberlain has shown that he is unable to consistently hit his spots at this point in the year and that is no way to win a starting rotation spot.
The feisty righty out of Lincoln, Nebraska has given up 11 runs in his past two outings in a total of just 3.2 innings.
It seems to me that Joba is destined for the set—up role this year, as he is usually strong for an inning or two, but then seems to wither and die. He has the stuff to get out nearly any batter in the majors, but he isn't mentally with it.
If he so much as allows one extra base hit or (God forbid) a home run, he falls apart mentally and the opposing batters will get to him.
He has the ability, however, to go out for one or two innings and throw his guts out, which will usually work for that length of time. Any longer, though, and you need the ability to fool the opposing batter, something the young pitcher has not yet learned to do.
Phil Hughes is closer to being a starter than Joba at this point in spring training, but he is still not the Yankees best option. He has been quite consistent, allowing only two runs in 4.2 innings and only four hits and one walk, but he is still not their best option.
Aceves has been the Yankees best pitcher this spring training and he should be rewarded for his effectiveness. Aceves had worked a perfect six innings until giving up a home run to Garrett Atkins Saturday (which is still the only run he has given up so far).
He has shown the ability to hit his spots and throw strikes, as he has yet to walk a single batter in 10 innings leading to a staggering .30 WHIP.
He has shown a tendency to give up a few to many fly balls, which could lead to the big inning here and there. This is something that can screw with a young pitcher's confidence.
While the Billy Beane in me is yelling to ignore the small sample size, the Joe Girardi in me is jumping up and down for the progress that Aceves has shown this spring training and he deserves to be rewarded for it.
Overall, with the way that Aceves has shown he is worthy of that final starting spot, he should get it, for the time being anyway.
Hughes should start out in long relief to keep his innings up and his workload high until Aceves shows he cannot handle the starter role or until Joba shows he might not be able to be the bridge to Mariano Rivera.
This would simultaneously work groom Aceves to be a future starter and Chamberlain to be the closer of the future, while having Phil Hughes (who has shown he could do either job) waiting in the wings in order to step in if one cannot handle the job.
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