Bumped into former Sea Dogs reliever Ryan Cameron during the Reading Phillies' visit to Hadlock Field this past weekend. "Still trying to get people out," he said with his usual smile.

Cameron, 29, is like a lot of players. They show potential, are good enough to hang around, but have not found a way to make it to the majors, let alone stay there. Another example is Scott Youngbauer.

Youngbauer, a Sea Dogs infielder in 2005 and briefly this season, was released by the Red Sox on Monday (see today's Press Herald). Youngbauer, 28, was a solid player but with the Red Sox continuing to develop younger players, there was no room for him.

And that brings us to Pawtucket reliever Travis Hughes. When you look at the bullpen for the Red Sox Triple-A team, the names that stick out are Delcarmen, Hansen, Martinez and Breslow. They are all 40-man players, guys who make a decent salary with some level of security.

Hughes, 29, has a minor league contract. If he struggled for long, he would likely be released. Fortunately for Hughes, he is pitching rather well (18 games, 30 innings, 28 strikeouts/11walks, ONE earned run for a 0.30 ERA).

Hughes, a 6-5, 235-pound righthander, has had a sniff of the majors the last three years (24 appearances), mostly with Washington. There seemingly is no room for him in Boston.

But what if he keeps pitching like he is now?

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