It's a little over a month before pitchers and catchers report for the Colorado Rockies and there still could be a trade in the works for a pitcher to bolster the rotation. However, it remains to be seen if there is anyone out there that can be had. The Denver Post's Troy Renck suggests Phil Hughes of the New York Yankees:
Given the Yankees' additions of Michael Pineda and Hiroki Kuroda, the Rockies should see if New York would part with Phil Hughes for Smith and a prospect.
Hughes regressed last season and was hampered by a dead arm and then back spasms late in the season. He put up a 5.79 ERA with a 4.58 FIP and 4.90 xFIP, which still doesn't show a great pitcher. His 65.4 percent strand rate was his worst since 2008 (60.2 percent).
Hughes has had only one full season, which came in 2010. He went 18-8 with 176 innings pitched and a 4.19 ERA. He put up a career high 2.5 fWAR, coming just one season after he put up a 2.4 fWAR as a reliever for the Yankees.
He's just a 35 percent groundball pitcher in his career, making him a bit risky for Coors Field, but if he could raise his 7.51 career strikeouts per nine innings that would be able to make up some of the effects of Coors Field. He'd also need to rely less on his curveball, which he threw 22 percent of the time in 2011 (his fastball just 59 percent).
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