Phil Hughes focusing on 2009 http://0rz.tw/1958v BY MARK FEINSAND DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER Saturday, November 29th 2008, 8:35 PM What a difference a year makes. Last winter, Phil Hughes was one of the hottest commodities in baseball, the centerpiece of a proposed trade between the Yankees and Twins that would have landed Johan Santana in pinstripes. Now, as the Yankees pursue free agent pitchers CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Derek Lowe, the 22-year-old Hughes is uncertain whether he'll even be in the majors when the 2009 season starts. "It's just one of those wait-and-see things," Hughes said from his family's Southern California home. "We'll sign whoever we sign this winter, and I'll go to spring training with the same attitude that I always do. I don't worry about the things I can't control." Last offseason, the Yankees decided not to deal their prized prospect, passing on Santana and allowing him to move across town to Shea Stadium, where he starred for the Mets in 2008. Hughes was handed a starting job before spring training even started, with most experts inserting him into the No.3 spot in the rotation ahead of Mike Mussina. Putting a lot of weight on his shoulders, the Yankees expected Hughes to take charge in his first full season in the majors and help the Bombers continue their run of 13 consecutive years in the postseason. But after ineffectiveness and injury ruined what was supposed to be Hughes' breakout season, second-guessing about the Santana deal began, and many began to question whether Hughes would ever live up to his seemingly unlimited potential. "Last year went the way it went and all the sudden the questions came up like, 'Will he ever be Phil Hughes?'" general manager Brian Cashman said. "He never had the chance last year." Hughes battled through a dismal April, going 0-4 with a 9.00 ERA in six starts before landing on the disabled list with a fractured rib, costing him three months. "The last start I made, I was hurting," Hughes said. "The starts before that, I really didn't feel it at all. It would be easy to say I was hurt the whole time, but I'm not the kind of guy to do that. It wasn't the case. I was just struggling." It took Hughes some time to regain his form in the minors, prompting the Yankees to leave him there until September, when he made two final appearances at the big-league level before heading to the Arizona Fall League to get more innings under his belt. Hughes went 2-0 with a 3.00ERA in seven AFL starts, but if you take out his disastrous outing on Oct. 18 in which he allowed seven runs in 2-2/3 innings, Hughes posted a 0.99 ERA in his other six games. He struck out 38batters in 30 innings, routinely hitting 94-95 mph with his fastball - something he didn't do during his time with the Yankees last season. "I was there for the innings, but at the same time, I didn't want to go out and get walloped every time I took the mound," Hughes said. "I worked on some things, got my innings in and was pretty successful at the same time." While Hughes bulked up his innings total, he also used the time to work on his cutter, a pitch he started to develop late in the season after he decided to scrap his slider altogether. "My slider wasn't working at all," Hughes said. "I worked a lot this fall on my cutter and my changeup, and both have come a long way." Having pitched 99-2/3 innings this year between the majors and the AFL, Hughes is hoping to get his total up to 150-175 next season, putting him in line to approach the 200-inning mark by 2010. Although Hughes hasn't proven to be the front-line starter the Yankees expect him to be, it's easy to forget that he's still just 22, an age at which many pitchers are still toiling in the lower levels of the minors. With Chien-Ming Wang and Joba Chamberlain penciled into the rotation and the Yankees expected to sign two - if not three - starters this winter, Hughes will be fortunate to have an opportunity to battle for the fifth spot when camp opens in February. "Especially the way my season went, that's realistically going to be the case," Hughes said. "I had the same attitude in spring training when I was 19 and had no shot at making the team as I did last year when everyone expected I would. I'll just work hard and see where that takes me." --

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