Rich Hill continues to throw in hopes of signing soon, he tells Chris Cotillo of MassLive. Cotillo adds that multiple teams — including one from the AL East that is not the Red Sox — have shown interest in the 45-year-old lefty.
Hill told The San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser in January that he planned to continue pitching. There haven’t been any definitive reports within the past three months, but Hill evidently still hopes to reach the big leagues for a 21st consecutive season. Last year, he waited until the middle of August to agree to a minor league contract with the Red Sox (on what was his eighth different deal with Boston). The Sox called him up a couple weeks later but released him after 3 2/3 innings.
Last year’s late signing was deliberate. Hill wanted to spend time with his family early in the season, while the later signing would theoretically keep him fresh and allow him to prioritize a deal with a potential playoff team. That didn’t really work out as hoped, as Hill didn’t get much of a look on a Boston team that was only a fringe contender. He has previously suggested he could pursue more of a traditional full-season schedule this time around, though he obviously remains unsigned nearly a month after Opening Day.
Sox will sign him, the cycle will repeat and all will be as it has been
You said has been.
I need to see Rich Hill pitch in the big 2025, the bit must continue
Why
Why not?
Let’s go Dick Mountain!
I would bet anything and anyone the AL East team is Baltimore. They are looking for someone to make Morton feel young again.
You beat me to it. Yes, Baltimore is the place pitchers want to go to.
If only teams were still allowed to use LOOGY’s Hill could pitch for 10 more years
Sure. Why not.
Why would you invest in a 45 year old guy who really hasn’t gotten big league hitters out for 2 years now?
Because he may STILL not be the worst pitcher an organization could start in 2025.
I mean, he very possibly could be the worst pitcher in all of MLB if he takes a turn this season, but it’s still possible he won’t be.
Besides, if he pitches for his 14th organization this year he’ll improve my chances of guessing correctly on the Immaculate Grid, where I can use a lot, a lot of help on questions like, pitched at least 1 inning for the Pirates and Angels…
If any team could get something out of him at this point, I would think it’d be the Rays.
Definitely a live possibility. The Rays are getting a lot of bad starts presently. The negative is that at 9 and 13, if they keep it up and are nowhere near the 3rd wildcard slot, then they’ll probably prefer to look at a young guy they can use in 2026 while paying him the minimum rather than offer Hill 1.5m or whatever it may take. (Did the Pirates actually sign him for his age 43 season for $8m? The Pirates??)
Another benefit might follow from signing Hill and drawing out everything he knows about breaking stuff, filming everything he does on the mound—if they didn’t already do that in 2021.
Then again he also doesn’t seem like the kind of pitcher with enough juice left that the Rays might figure they could sign and have him start by early June, then build him up to deal him at the deadline for a useful prospect. I doubt even if he’s going well that he’s likely to be reliably better than the worst innings a contender can otherwise put together.
Still, I hope he catches on somewhere.
It.must be.nice
Being.able
To make.decisions
Like.that.
Bet he’ll just end up retiring. I can’t imagine someone taking a flyer on him at this point. It’s all smoke with “interested teams”
Rise, old Dick Mountain!