1:36pm: MASN's Roch Kubatko says Hill expects to sign today or tomorrow, and won't rule out the Orioles. Hill might have one club (not Baltimore) willing to offer a big league deal.
8:26am: Free agent lefty starter Rich Hill "is poised to accept" an offer with a team other than the Orioles, reports Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun. Hill became a free agent after being outrighted by the O's in November.
Acquired from the Cubs in February for cash considerations, Hill was a worthwhile pickup for Andy MacPhail. However, Hill fared poorly in 13 starts last year while dealing with elbow and shoulder injuries. He had labrum surgery in August. For more background on Hill, check out our November 4th discussion post.
I remember streaming him in a fantasy league. He did pretty well, so I kept him around. After that though, he was awful.
Longshot to make it. What ever happened to other former highly touted Cubs lefthanders Andrew Sisco and Luke Hagerty?
The same Sisco some Cub fans were terrified in losing in the Rule 5 draft to the Royals in ’04. He hung around and was traded to the White Sox in ’06. I know he had Tommy John surgery and is now with Oakland. Hagerty bounced around in the independent league. Last I heard, he is with Schaumburg.
He owned triple A but just couldn’t quite get it figured out at the big league level. I still think if he could put it together he could be a force. He has a mean 12 to 6 curveball.
To be fair to Hill, to say he couldn’t figure out the big leagues is probably not true.
2006-2007: 294 IP, 102 BB, 273 K, 4.01 ERA
Pretty solid before the injury issues and control issues started arising.
Let me rephrase that……He couldn’t stay consistent at the big league level.
Pinella/LR changed his mechanics to stop the free bases he gave up (long windup= free rein from 1st to 3rd) and it ruined him. End of story.
My guess is the Padres…great place for a rehabbing pitcher…Pads need a left hander and would come on the cheap.
This guy’s stashed way back in my keeper-league roster. Wasn’t expecting too much but it would be exciting for him to return to his old form.
I would love to see the White Sox give him a chance to at least make their bullpen. Anything would be an upgrade over last year’s abysmal bullpen. Plus we need to add a lefty.
I think the Dodgers should take a look at him… If on point, he can be a lot more effective than Pineiro, and a lot cheaper.
this is exactly the type of pick up the Royals need to make, though they always to the opposite of what is logical.
They won’t, he’s not a former Brave.
Could take care of one of the redbirds concerns too. I’d rather have Smoltz/Valverde.
This has Twins written all over it – go after the cheapest SP coming off injury with upside. If it doesn’t work out, go back to the kids.
I would think the Cards would take a look….they are out of money and with Duncan they think that any pitcher can be a star. And since Carp, Waino, Lohse and Penny are all R handed maybe Hill would be able to step up as the 5th starter at some point and be the lefty.
Nah, if it had “Twins” written all over it, he’d be an over priced SP coming off injury with no upside.
See: Jarrod Washburn, Sidney Ponson, Livan Hernandez, Ramon Ortiz
No one seems to notice that his type of injury is the kind that can end a pitching career. Basically it is impossible for modern medicine to regrow labrums. They tend to recur and exacerbate. We don’t know how severe of a tear it is so we really don’t know how bad it is. I wish Rich good luck. Rehabbing that injury only one offseason sounds a little too quick to me, but it would be a nice success story to see him bounce back. His control struggles were obviously due to the injuries.
I can only think of 1 pitcher that came back successfully from a torn labrum, Gil Meche.
There may be others but I can’t recall any.
Anglel Guzman of the Cubs and i believe Joe Saunders as well. I can’t think of any others.
Bob Howry.
Did didn’t have a torn labrum. The procedure that he had was a debridement of the labrum, but there was no tear.
No one seems to notice that this injury isnt the biggest issue here – its the Blass issues first, injury recovery second. 2008 – off a fantastic 200 inning, 3.92 ERA 2007 season, Rich walks 18 in first 5 starts (8.24 BB/9) coming to a head on May 2, 2008 when he walks four straight Cards. Lou was livid.Sent to AAA, where he walks 28 in only 7 games and 26 innings (9.69 BB/9)Cubs claim some kind of back issue, sit him for 15 days, then its off to Rookie ball for rehab. 3 games, only 9 innings and 5 BB (4.82 BB/9)Thats an improvement, so to A+ he goes. 3 games, 12 innings and 11 BB (8.03 BB/9)Its now going on August, and this is when the Cubs decided to call it quits. They put him out of his misery and shut him down for the rest of the season.Off to the winter league over the offseason. 21 innings and 23 Walks (9.86 BB/9) later, he’s out of option and on his way to Baltimore. They end up putting him on the DL with shoulder issues, and he eventually makes 3 starts in AAA in May. 13 Innings, 9 BB (6.08 BB/9)Then rehab is over and he gets a call up to Baltimore. 14 Games, 57 innings and 40 Walks (6.24 BB/9) later, he is is out for the remainder of the year with shoulder injury and surgery.So yes, recovery from the surgery is important. But not as important as his inability to stop walking people before the injury even occurred. Steve Blass Disease victim first, labrum survivor second.
based on his MO, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ned Colletti go all claudio vargas on Rich Hill. 1yr 1mil Major league deal?
based on his MO, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ned Colletti go all claudio vargas on Rich Hill. 1yr 1mil Major league deal?
….am I the only one that thinks Rich Hill is actually UNDERRATED??!??
Yes. I think it’s just you. If you saw him pitch last year (maybe you have?) he literally was flinging curveballs over and over and over and miss by a foot or to the backstop. There was a few starts where he just flatout couldn’t throw 1 strike. Among his pitches the curveball is strangely the more reliable one, but there were times he lost the zone even with that. This is a case where you need to throw out the stats somewhat because it only tells you what you already know, and might not even be the whole story, because a statistical BB won’t tell you how far out of the zone he is. He misses by a lot. He has extremely serious control issues that don’t look like they can be corrected because they might be injury-created.Re: Suzysman,I know what you’re trying to get at with citing his command issues. Valid. Tho a torn labrum is something that tends to be there long before pain forces a pitcher out of the lineup and injury pain is something that has proven to gradually alter mechanics. It’s highly likely that Hill’s basically been managing labrum issues a year before command issues even popped up. His mechanics have been really been a problem because of compensating for the injury, and his old AAA pitching coach suggested as much. When a labrum tears, it no longer provides a cushion in the ball and socket joint of the shoulder, and can become a bone-on-bone type of pain at it’s worst. It forced many good pitchers out like Nen, because pitching became a ongoing process managing of pain that only got worse. No amount of recovery time will grow back labrum tissue, so it’s not something where a few weeks to a year can fix.
basemonkey,the Cubs worked hard on trying to figure out what Hills issues were. He started claiming back issues, and that is what the Cubs put him on the DL for. Tweaks in his delivery followed, and this is believed to be what led to the inflammation/(his claim of a tear) in the labrum.When traded to the Orioles, the new shoulder issue was known. But like most pitchers with minor inflammation or tears, rehab was the course of action. Being questioned about his lack of control, Hill eventually started complaining that it was hard to pitch with a tear of the labrum (much the way he was complaining about his back after his loss of control a year prior). Baltimore complied and had it reevaluated. Dr. Yocum eventually did the surgery, the team was informed the injury wasnt nearly as bad as was feared and everyone was told to expect him to be ready to try this pitching thing again sometime around spring training.Despite fears of the I word, the issue is actually pretty common and many pitchers will show issues and tears when evaluated. (same thing with knees in hitters, which is why the huge spike in labrum tears the last few years as technology makes them easier to spot) Surgery puts it into a situation where an extended rehab is needed, but pitchers seem to regain previous ability unless the injury is extreme. The real issue comes in the endurance issues they can experience up to three years after the procedure.
You are talking about a pitcher off two seasons of a ML/Minor-League combined 7.1 BB% who is recovering from labrum surgery who is expected (but not guaranteed) to be ready around spring training.
How in the world can anyone consider him underrated?
maybe the reds can pick him up on the cheap and spilt time wither maloney/owenings/ maybe even wood or chapman for the 5th spot until volquez comes back?
top 5 pitchers i would like to see the reds get
1.sheets , yea i know no chance with the money he is wanting
2. Bedard great pitcher when healthy and he’s left handed and can give you innings and strike outs agian when health.
3.Wang- Has won 19 games twice in the AL EAST. could be ready by spring
4-pedro depending on if he still wantes to do the paul bryd plan or not
5 Smoltz- put some fans in the seats and he can prove he can still pitch at least in the nl
i think we could work out deals with them expect sheets cause of money ans something we dont have alot of. sorry for making a hill sign into a reds thing
then hill,lowry,mulder and anybody hear anything about mark prior? he was nasty when healthy
thoughts?