Thursday, August 7, 2008

Reader mailbag: Ya stumped me

JoeOrange emailed me this, and quite frankly, I don't have an answer.

Okay, I have a question for you:

Darrell Rasner wears #43. When the Yankees made the trade for Damaso Marte, he couldn't continue with his number, so he chose (or maybe it was chosen FOR him) #34.

Now I KNOW that the Yankees suffer from a depletion of usable numbers due to the number of retired jerseys, but they have to "borrow" numbers from players on the DL? Didn't Phil Hughes wear #34 before going on the DL with that broken rib? What happens when he comes back? Does he get his old number back?

So, what happens to Marte and Hughes when Hughes comes back off the DL? Does he get his old number back? Does he go back to the Spring Training garb he wore when he first came up (#65)? Can he "steal" Joba's #62? For THAT matter, what if he wanted to wear #40?
I gotta admit, I hadn't put 2+2 together to see that Marte was wearing Hughes' #34. I'm surprised they let Marte take that. In checking the Yanks 40 man roster, they have a "--" by his number. Wang (#40) is still on the 40 man roster, Hughes is not. Obviously Joba (#62) is as well.

Joe, ya got me. I have NO idea what Hughes or Marte will do once Hughes comes back. Zero clue. I'd like to think that Hughes will get #34 but maybe he'll change his number once again, looking for something with ANY good luck to it.

5 comments:

Carl said...

Obviously, when Hughes comes back, he should wear 99.

Brian said...

Hughes switched back to his original number 65 after being sent down and before Marte was acquired.

tHeMARksMiTh said...

Also, sometimes players exchange numbers when a new guy on the team. It's been done before that the one wanting the number will buy something for the other guy (ie. vacation for the family, etc.).

Jason @ IIATMS said...

I didn't realize that, Brian.

And Mark, I know that players will "deal" their numbers, but Phil's number change was a bigger deal and he's viewed as a major piece of the Yanks future... much moreso than Marte. I'd be surprised if he dealt it. Though, if Brian's correct, he ha already decided to change back to #65.

Carl, I would love to see Hughes in a #99.

tHeMARksMiTh said...

I don't know ... Have you been to Disneyland recently? On $380,000, I doubt Hughes could afford to not take the offer.