So as you've seen in Ed Price's tweet we see that Josh Beckett in April 2009 looks just about the same as Josh Beckett 2010.  Well sort of, kind of, not really.

Josh Beckett: 7.22 ERA, 37 H and 13 BB in 28.2 IP. Josh Beckett in April 2009: 7.22 ERA, 36 H and 16 BB in 28.2 IP.

Let's take it to the next step.

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But this time it is according to Dave Eiland. He was on WFAN and you can read the transcript here regarding Hughes.

Eiland-"No, everybody’s even. There’s no clear favorite. There’s nobody that’s out in front right now. Were going to put the best guy in the that spot that gives us the best chance to win every 5 days. Whether it’s Joba with no restrictions or whether it’s Phil with some restrictions. But you’ve got to remember, Joba had restrictions because he never had a full season in the professional Baseball as a Starter. Phil Hughes has had several minor league seasons as a Starter. So there’s going to be restrictions, but they’re not going to be as strenuous as Joba. And I’ll just leave it at that, right there. There’s restrictions, and were on the side of caution with all our guys. Whether it’s the number 1 guy to the 12th guy in the bullpen. Were not going to abuse anybody or put anyone’s career in jeopardy."

Hughes' career high for innings pitched is 146 in 2006. By the "rule" he should be good for 180 but if we wins the spot he probably won't go that high. But I'm sure the Yankees will have no problem with having him pitch 160-170 innings since we've seen how willing they were to stretch out a clearly tired Joba. So Hughes does have a limit but it's not going to affect him like it did on Joba. It needs to be said since a lot think he'll still have a major innings limit. He won't.

However I still do think it's Joba's spot to lose.  It makes no sense for Joba to finally let go of the restrictions to go back into the bullpen.  Plus he's older by a year and if I recall correctly almost 2. 

Now Joba has to really suck in ST and Phil has to be godlike for Joba to lose that spot.

Which starter do you think will win the 5th starter battle? Which I may add isn't a good way to decide who gets the job. In that short sample anything can happen. Remember when Gardner took the spot from Melky and we (at least I) thought he'd be great? But since that's how it will be decided we'll have to go with it.

And yes they are both starters. They are starters until they prove they cannot start. That means 6.00 ERA for the next 2-3 years. Starters are more valuable than relievers. A starter pitching 180 innings with a 4.00 ERA is more valuable than a closer pitching 70 innings with a 2.50 ERA. Thankfully Cashman agrees. Both will be starting pitchers in the long run so get over it. You didn't see fans want Roy Halladay in the bullpen when he struggled like Joba so please get some patience if you are a 'every young starter to the bullpen' fanatic.

Anyways back on the topic at hand. I see Joba winning the battle. He now has the ability to pitch the entire season since he successfully reached his innings limit this year. His new stamina will already automatically make him a better pitcher. He was obviously pitching tired. Joba had a 3.38 ERA before he got tired at his previous career high IP of 110. So when he's not tired he's effective. And he won't get tired anymore. Expect a huge performance increase from him. It would be a waste for him to go immediately to the bullpen and there might be some health effects we don't know about.

Hughes on the other hand while nasty in the bullpen was essentially a 2 pitch pitcher. He used his good fastball and his curve. In the pen he completely stopped using his changeup. If he's starting I *suspect* he'll have a good amount of bad days with a few good ones. Maybe something similar to Joba's 2009 season. That's fine but with only one spot open I'd rather give it to Joba. Hughes can go back into the bullpen hopefully as a long-man so he can still develop. He needs to start developing his pitches again so when he's starting again he'll be effective. Preferably the "loser" goes to AAA so they can both start but I find it unlikely. But in 2010 whoever is sent to the bullpen better be the 6th starter. If Pettitte or AJ goes down I'd rather have Phil as the starter than Mitre, Guadin and yes even Aceves. Thoughts?