Hughes has been a bargain for the Twins

When the Twins signed righthander Phil Hughes to a three-year, $24 million contract during the offseason, many folks around baseball were surprised that a pitcher coming off a 4-14 season would get a three-year offer. Two years maybe, but not three.

Almost one year into the deal, Hughes has pitched like someone worth substantially more than that.

"He's a totally different pitcher this year," Tigers outfielder Torii Hunter said after a series at Target Field this week.

Hughes heads into his next-to-last start of the season on Friday with a 15-10 record and a 3.56 ERA. He's won more games than any free agent who signed a multiyear contract during the previous offseason.

Wins are overrated? OK. Hughes has been a strike-throwing machine, posting a major league-low 0.74 walks per nine innings. Seattle's Hisashi Iwakuma is second at 0.962, with no one else under 1.0. Hughes also has a ridiculous 11.0 strikeout/walk ratio. Iwakuma is second at 7.89. If you are cool with wins, the Twins have scored two or fewer runs in four of Hughes' past five losses, or his record would be even sexier.

With two starts left, Hughes has a chance to win 17 games, which would be the second-highest total of his career, and throw more than 200 innings for the first time.

As much as the Twins have scratched their heads over the struggles of Ricky Nolasco, who signed a four year, $49 million deal, they have been thrilled at what Hughes has given them.

"Unfortunately, the team has not performed well. That's another story.''

Hunter said Hughes is pitching with more confidence this season, and the Tigers outfielder should know; Hughes is 2-0 with a 0.64 ERA against Detroit this season.

"The way he's pitching now, he's more composed," Hunter said. "He's controlling the game, the tempo of the game. He's out of Yankee Stadium in New York. Maybe coming to Minnesota has calmed him down a bit, because he looks like he's under control."

Anderson said it doesn't matter where a pitcher is. If he doesn't have success he's going to press. Hughes' attempts to tinker with pitches and try different ones — during the middle of seasons — have been documented through his years with the Yankees. Anderson just wanted him to focus on one thing when they met in spring training for their first strategy session. He asked Hughes what he wanted to improve on, and Hughes told him he wanted to pitch inside effectively to righthanded hitters.

By the end of camp, Hughes had made progress in that area. He began to throw his cut fastball on both sides of the plate. He used a sinking fastball to pound righthanded hitters, because a cut fastball could creep back over the plate.

"He's opened the whole plate up, whether it is confidence or what," Anderson said. "The hitter can't look one side. They have to respect both sides. I think that has been a big key for him."

Hughes began to see lefthanded hitters freeze as his cutter broke back over the outside part of the plate for strikes, and called it an eye-opener. His other pitches became more effective because he could throw strikes on either side of the plate. Other nuances of pitching followed.

"It's more maturing, reading swings, seeing what guys are trying to do to me," Hughes said. "And [catcher] Kurt Suzuki has been a great catalyst, and Andy as well. Those guys see things so well and it has opened my eyes to what a lot of these guys have tried to do to me."

The only thing Hughes brought with him from New York is his tendency to give up a lot of hits. He's allowed 206, eighth-most in the majors. Even his home run rate of 0.7 per nine innings would be a career low, but that could be product of playing in Target Field, which is more of a pitcher's park than Yankee Stadium.

The move to Minnesota certainly has worked, for both sides. It was a contracted offer that now looks like a shrewd move for the Twins. So many things have gone wrong with the Twins this season, but not adding Hughes, who is in position for a productive three-year run in Minnesota.