Despite a prognosis that won’t see him pitch until late spring at the soonest, veteran pitcher Rich Hill says that his free agent stock has still drawn interest from multiple teams across the majors.
According to reports, Hill underwent a type of surgery called a “primary revision” to his UCL following the 2019 season. Apparently, it’s a type of maintenance procedure that addresses re-injury for players who previously had Tommy John surgery. Hill initially went under the knife for his elbow back in 2011.
“This guarantees I’ll be back,” Hill said to Bill Plunkett of the OC Register earlier this week. “Given where I’m at in my career and how much longer I’d like to play, the percentage of success is upward of 95 percent.”
Hill also told Plunkett that as many as 10 teams have expressed interest in signing him. This news was relayed to the veteran by his agency, ACES, who evidently talked to multiple executives at this year’s GM Meetings earlier this month in Scottsdale.
Before the news of his recent surgery and prognosis, the veteran lefty went on record saying that he would very much like to return to Los Angeles for what would be his 16th big league season.
“I’d love to get the opportunity to come back here and wear the Dodger uniform again,” Hill told reporters not long after the 2019 NLDS was decided. “It was really cool. It was a great honor, and hopefully something will play out and I can come back into this locker room and be part of this club. It’s just going to be a lot of fun watching these guys, good young players and a really good pitching staff coming back, too.”
The native of Boston is coming off a three-year deal worth $48 million. His 2019 installment was just a little over $18.5 million.
Multiple ailments have taken their toll on Hill over the past few seasons, but the biggest injury controversy was the recurring blisters on his throwing finger. The problem reared its ugliest head in 2017, causing him to miss a big chunk of the season. The blisters resurfaced again early in 2018, but he was still able to rebound and make 24 starts on the year.
In 2019, he made just 13 regular season starts, as a forearm strain kept him on the shelf for the majority of the year. A knee injury compounded his late-season and playoff status, but he continued to persevere, garnering a start in NLDS Game 4 but throwing just 2-2/3 innings—an affair the Dodgers eventually lost, 6-1.
Many fans questioned management’s decision to use Hill in that spot—much less his inclusion on the NLDS roster in the first place—with the availability of other capable arms like Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May and Ross Stripling waiting in the wings.
Being that he won’t be available to pitch until the middle of the 2020 season, it’s tough to guess what kinds of contracts he’ll be offered. If he does indeed latch on somewhere, he could conceivably shift back to being a reliever or a swing man.
In 2013, he made a whopping 64 appearances for the Indians. His best year out of the bullpen came one year prior in Boston, when he threw 25 times in relief, producing an impressive 1.83 ERA.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
Multiple teams? Expressed interest?
What that tells me is his agent called everybody and a few teams said “sure, we’ll watch him pitch next summer and let you know”. In the mean time his spot on the roster is open.
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I hope he gets to pitch somewhere, I always loved watching him throw those curveballs. Sometimes it looked like he was throwing a whiffle ball.
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110, 135, 132 and 58 innings. He’s 40 next year coming off another elbow surgery. Can we just move on from Rich Hill? I’d rather see Gray be given his spot. He’d surely give us more than 58 innings. Buehler, Kershaw, Maeda, Urias, May, Gonsolin, Stripling, Gray. If we sign Ryu, great. That would be a 9 man rotation. Maybe if we do that they won’t run out of gas in October.
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I sincerely hope one of those teams is not the Dodgers. Hill’s time has passed. It is not like the guy is a Cy Young candidate or something. How much is he really worth? Sorry, I do not think Hill is worth a roster spot.
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If Hill would be willing to wait until June-July to sign, after he shows everyone how is arm looks, I’d be very interested. I don’t see him as a starter, but I think he could definitely be effective out of the bullpen. After seeing the starter for a few innings and possibly another reliever or two, Hill’s pitches would look totally different to batters which would be another advantage. Assuming he’s healthy, fairly inexpensive, and our bullpen needs some re-working at mid season, I’m in.
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I doubt Rich Hill will see himself as a reliever. I think he thinks he’s Tom Brady and will be a starter until he’s 50. I don’t know that, but I am betting he and his agent will be selling him as a starter and by summer there will be a team buying that premise.
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I agree that he’d probably rather start than relieve but even if he’s healthy will he be able to go more than 4 or 5 innings on a regular basis? Will that be enough for a contender to want to sign him? If not, his decision might come down to starting for a team like the Tigers or Orioles or relieving for a team like L.A. or Boston.
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I have already expressed my views on the player formerly known as Dick Mountain. His time has passed, please let us move on from injured and infirm players. I am so tired of AF signing guys to contracts who end up spending large chunks of the season on the IL. Koehler got 2 million dollars, and never threw a pitch after spring training. Ridiculous. You all might say I am nothing more than a grumpy old Bear, who seems to be getting grumpier as the year goes on, and you would be right. I get really tired of AF’s excuses, and inactivity while the competition gets better. How much better will not be known until the games commence, but sitting on his butt, and letting them get players that obviously could help LA in it’s pursuit of it’s first title in 31 years is just plain infuriating.
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It’s still WAY early Bear. What we are seeing now will likely go on for several more weeks. Even winter meetings don’t necessarily mean much. Just another excuse to go on a vacation, eat well, and stay in luxury suites on the organization’s dime. Good gig if you can get it. Friedman got it. It’s December tomorrow. We’ve been in our off season for almost two months. What’s happened? Not much.
There will be a big free agent signing sometime this coming month, or January, then the dominoes will start to fall. Maddening time of year for baseball fans. Also for Pac 12 football fans. And Rams fans this year. Basketball fans are lit up. Baseball? As my old logger friend up north used to say – “see you in the Spring.”
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You are way more patient than I.
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You are nothing more than a grumpy old Bear who seems to be getting grumpier as the year goes on.
I know you would have been disappointed if someone hadn’t said it. 🙂
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No Not disappointed at all. Surprised maybe…The year is almost over, you have not seen the level of grumpy bear I am capable of yet! Friedman is full of fried frioles!
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Hey Bear, it’s winter. You’re supposed to be hibernating until pitchers and catchers report.
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Not for us polar bears….if you noticed. I am white…..LOL……
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Son of a gun, I never knew polar bears didn’t hibernate. And I promised AF he wouldn’t have to deal with you until spring training. Oh well.
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Unless they win a title under Andrew the lesser, he is always going to have to deal with the wrath of the Bear. Until then, he has done BUPKIS> Nada, nothing, zero, you get the idea. If he were the genius they profess him to be, you would think he had one series title under his belt. Hell, even Roberts and Kasten have one. He is until then, a LOSER.
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The White Bear is Polar, but he isn’t bi, so….. that’s a good thing. A bi polar bear would have a long way to walk every year…..
To be honest, I’m only a little surprised we haven’t won one. I thought our best shot was probably the the year Hanley went down. That was a good team, anchored with a rotation of Kershaw, Greinke and Ryu. I’m also a bit surprised that we laid an egg in Game 7 at home, but the other years we always seemed short somewhere. Last year it was the bullpen. Everybody knew we needed help there and all of us were in here proposing ways to get that leak plugged. Didn’t do it and ultimately it was our undoing. With the revelation the Astros were cheating I’m no longer convinced they were the best team during their run.
We will have a shot again next year but I’m sending a message to Andrew that he’d better get something big done this winter to bring back those fans like Bear who remain unconvinced. Another year of ”missed it by that much” will be unacceptable.
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Some ask, why are you not onboard with Friedman? Well, there have been a lot of guys who ran the Dodgers that I have not agreed with. Ned made a few pretty bone headed signings and then got lambasted for them. Buzzie Bavasi traded some of my favorite players. Al Campanis made a few dumb trades also. I did like Fred Claire, soft spoken and it never seemed like it was all about him, He stayed in the back ground. He got blindsided when Fox traded Piazza, and was none too happy about it. Some of the others made little impact. Some were just boasters. DePodesta was another analytical driven guy. AF inherited a really good team, and I do give him some credit at least for not tearing it apart. But his love of reclamation projects, and super utility guys playing almost every day, just is not what I have come to expect from a franchise that prides itself on stars and titles. Oh, we own the west, and probably will for years simply because the other teams in the division are that far behind. SF has the resources to come after L:A. SD has a good farm system,. the Rocks are a mess. D-Backs, although they can field competitive teams, their fan support is weak. And the Dodgers might trade prospects, but they hold on to the quality players. Just look how many made contributions last year. But AF still has not pulled the trigger on that off season pick up that makes you ELITE. Houston has done that, so have some other teams. AF sticks to his plan, and brings in spam.
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You may be expecting spam but this year you’re getting prime rib.
Furthermore, how dare you use spam as a derogatory term. Over 8 billion cans of spam have been sold since it first hit the market. People love spam. Spam is the foundation on which this great country was built.
When we make our huge signing or trade, I’m going to allow you to substitute spam for crow.
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Impugning Spam? It is the other meat. Ate enough of that when times were tough. Even have it on a sandwich now and then, but when used as describing the annual haul that AF makes it is most appropriate. Pretty much what most fans described last years big signing, AJ Pollock. It is hard to soar with Eagles, when the boss is a TURKEY. If it walks like a duck, then it must be. There, I’ve insulted some birds too. Not eating any crow at all unless Ol Andy actually signs a difference maker, and according to his interviews lately, it will be business as usual at the house of Blue. More of the same, a 5 year plan to keep the lemmings coming to the ball park, and getting our freebie handouts to keep their little minds off of the real prize, the raising of the banner in the spring.
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OK, you’ve now called Andrew a turkey and a duck and you think he’s too much of a chicken to make a big signing or trade. Henceforth, I give you permission to refer to him as the Turducken (and you are the only one allowed to use that name).
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Well thanks Jefe….I like it, Turdurken…makes a whole lot of sense to me. Although he could also be classified as Duckturden. Which is kind of like the stuff coming out of a ducks heinie.
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8 million of the contract Pomeranz signed with the Padres is bonus money and deferred. He will get that between Dec 2020 and Dec 2023. He gets 4 mil this year. Monday at 5 PM EST is the non tender deadline. Wonder if the Dodgers cut some fat from the roster, White, Alexander, JT Chargois, Garcia, Sadler, all candidates in my mind, along with Barnes. But we will see what the team itself thinks of these guys.
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