Time for Igawa to go

It should be obvious by now that if the New York Yankees are going to catch either Cleveland in the wild-card race or Boston in the AL East they simply cannot keep sending Kei Igawa to the mound every 5 days.

Igawa, in whom the Yankees invested $46 million, was overmatched again last night, giving up 5 runs in 5.2 innings last night during a 7-0 loss. Igawa is 2-3 with a 6.79 ERA.

The Japanese lefthander's inability to pitch at this level, and Phil Hughes continued rehab from a pair of leg injuries, has led to the obvious assumption that Hughes will soon take Igawa's spot in the rotation.

That may be so, and I'll be glad if and when it happens. But, let's add a note of caution to the expectations surrounding Hughes. The 21-year-old righty has all of 10.2 big-league innings and one victory -- albeit an incredibly impressive one -- to his credit.

He will be an improvement over Igawa, but I hardly expect him to be dominant during the last two months of the season. Throughout his minor-league career he has been on strict pitch counts and innings limits. After his rehab is complete, I still don't see him going past 85-90 pitches very often -- partially because he may not be ready and partially because the Yankees will be cautious with him. They expect him to anchor their rotation in 2008 and beyond, and this season's injury was scary enough.

Yankee Notes

• JOBA, JOBA, JOBA!: The drumbeat continues to grow louder for the Yankees to promote their other top pitching prospect, Joba Chamberlain, in an effort to help their struggling bullpen. Kansas City rookie Alex Gordon, a former teammate of Chamberlain's, thinks he can help the Yankees right now.

• PROCTOR FOR WIGGINTON?: The Scott Proctor to Tampa Bay for Ty Wigginton rumors have been around for several days, but the Yankees have competition for Wigginton. The Red Sox (of course), Cubs and Twins are among other teams reportedly interested. I still think this will happen.

• FARNSWORTH TO TIGERS?: Detroit is apparently interested in Krazy Kyle as part of a three-way swap. I'd love for this to happen, but just don't see it.