Phil Hughes signed a three-year, $42 million extension as the Twins have locked him up for five years. So the Twins see Hughes as a two-WAR player long term, which strikes me as fair. In his good years with the Yankees he was around two WAR. In his bad seasons, however, he was in negative territory.

Both BIS and PITCHf/x pitch classification show Hughes abandoning his slider for a cutter in 2014, and PITCHf/x has him adding a knuckle curve. Given his success with this different mix of pitches, the Twins may get a real bargain with this deal. Note, however, that Hughes was successful in 2012 going in the opposite direction abandoning the cutter in favor of the slider. Maybe he just needs to change his trick pitch every so often.