Orioles Close To Deal With Cubs For Hill

Peter Schmuck, huh?

You're laughing now, but the Orioles have a very good chance to be a very good team in two or three years.

And they won't have to spend $300M to get there.

tomahawk368,
Don't mind them. Thanks for your original insightful comment. BTW where's tomahawk367?

3=c 6=f 8=h
Cowboys From Hell.
Pantera song/Album
Listen to it and be amazed!

Hill makes a lot of sense for a rebuilding team like the O's.

Melonis - I have a feeling that the Rich Hill ship has sailed in Chicago. The team is clearly contending for a WS title in 2009, and the organization probably feels as if they can not sacrifice innings on a potentially erratic Hill.

As for tomahawk368 - check out "Projects in the Jungle" if you want to know the truth about Panterrible!

Rich Hill walked a guy an inning all of last season. He pitched at several levels and did horrendous in each one. He's not injured, he's 29, and he has no options. What do you expect the Cubs to do?

Not to mention, they gave him one final shot to gain some kind of control in Winter Ball and he responded with 23 walks in 21 innings.

"Melonis - I have a feeling that the Rich Hill ship has sailed in Chicago. The team is clearly contending for a WS title in 2009, and the organization probably feels as if they can not sacrifice innings on a potentially erratic Hill."

Then why Gregg over Wood? Gregg has been very inconsistent throughout his career. Hell, he was released by the Angels. Wood was the portrait of consistency when he was healthy.

Why Milton Bradley over Bobby Abreu? One probably won't give you 100 games in the field and has had the liberties of a DH spot for his 2008 campaign. The other will be fine as long as he isn't allowed near a wall. The cost difference wouldn't be great, if at all.

Why trade Marquis then? Marquis is a solid 5th starter. He's the picture of consistency. I completely disapprove of Marquis for Vizcaino, ESPECIALLY when Rich Harden is a HUGE injury risk and Gaudin isn't exactly the portrait of health. If someone in the rotation goes down, you've got both Marshall and Gaudin in the rotation, and both are wild cards in the rotation.

They're just making bad decisions.

Oh yeah. The DeRosa dump. Yay for inconsistency.

while i agree the cubbies have been making some bad choices,i disagree about gregg,moving woods made way for marmol to step into the stopper roll,and using gregg as a setup guy,woods was pretty decent last year but the were many occassions last year woods didnt show the mental toughness it takes to be a closer something would go bad and he cracked and u couple that with the numerous injuries he has had and the decission to move on and let marmol take over rather then gives woods another contract makes sense.

Ok I'm tired of everyone complaining of the horrible offseason the cubs are having and how other teams are bashing the cubs. I'm going over some s*** now.

Kevin Gregg- He's a younger Wood who can stay healthy.

Mark DeRosa- I loved the guy too, but come on he's not going to have 21 homers with 80 something RBIs again and he was coming up on the last year of his contract and we needed to cut pay roll.

Milton Bradley- He is injury prone. He is known as a bad guy. Ok, then why did everone of the Texas Rangers players say he is a great guy. And he hit .3- something average with DeRosas homers and RBIs and is a switch hitter.

Paul Bako- Veteran back stop defensively good. What going to play maybe 50 games.

Cedeno
Pie
Hill
Out of options and suck rather get players then keep bums.

Hendry helped out the bullpen too.

So poo poo on u haters I'm out

"i disagree about gregg,moving woods made way for marmol to step into the stopper roll,and using gregg as a setup guy,woods was pretty decent last year but the were many occassions last year woods didnt show the mental toughness it takes to be a closer something would go bad and he cracked and u couple that with the numerous injuries he has had and the decission to move on and let marmol take over rather then gives woods another contract makes sense."

Your logic doesn't work in two HUGE places.

1. It is obvious that the Marlins made Hendry pay for Gregg's saves. A reliever with a 1.51 K/BB should NOT cost a prospect like Ceda, who is top 10 in a pretty good Marlins system. Concisely, Hendry MASSIVELY overpaid for Gregg's saves. And since set-up men don't get "saves", I'm 90% sure that Hendry intends to use Gregg as closer.

2. The Cubs didn't have to offer Wood a multiyear deal. If they wanted to groom Marmol to close, BUT STILL HAVE HIM PRIMARILY AS A SET UP MAN (because Gregg blocks Marmol), then why not offer Wood arbitration? He accepts, you have Wood, a FAR superior pitcher to Gregg, on a 1 year deal AND Ceda in the minor league system. He declines, Cubbies get 2 draft picks. Win-win situation.

IDK about mental toughness, but Wood is the MUCH better pitcher.

A Typical Schmuck article,
" I can finally see the O's trading Roberts by Tuesday, providing they find a team to sign him to an extension, and the other team can also offer value for him. It might be a 4 team trade, but most probably a 2 team trade. If not by Tuesday, then it probably won't happen at all, unless it's by Friday of the following week if the O's somehow aquired another allstar 2B to take the place of Roberts"

Hill makes a lot of sense for a rebuilding team like the O's.

Melonis - I have a feeling that the Rich Hill ship has sailed in Chicago. The team is clearly contending for a WS title in 2009, and the organization probably feels as if they can not sacrifice innings on a potentially erratic Hill.

As for tomahawk368 - check out "Projects in the Jungle" if you want to know the truth about Panterrible!

Posted by: Chris W. | February 01, 2009 at 08:25 PM

I agree with everything but the Panterrible. That was all glam crap but you must agree that CFH to The Great Southern Trend Kill albums all kicked.

I'm tired of people constantly knocking Rich Hill. I think he's the same case as Tom Gorzelanny, he was overworked, got injured, and struggled.

in 2007, not even 2 years ago, the guy put up a season with 196 IP, 183 K's, 63 BB's, and an FIP of 4.32.

How does that suck?? Yes, I'm well aware that last season Rich Hill wasn't the greatest pitcher on the face of the planet, but he can still turn it around I think.

If the Orioles staff can turn him around into a good #4 or #5 then I say a job well done by McPhail.

McPhail looks like Steven Hawking if he gets Hill for some nobody!;)

I agree, Hill does suck and Hendry shoud have traded him
3 years ago when his value was high

Rich hill sucks!!!

bcaine,

the only thing you've said this whole time is that Rich Hill sucks without giving any argument behind it except for the logic of a dumb Cubs fan. We all know Hill was bad last year, and most of us know he was excellent 2 years ago. So, to look at one year of his career and claim that he 'sucks' is just short sighted ignorance on your part and it does you no good to display it here unless you don't mind being perceived as a moron.

good luck Rich.

Every team in baseball with an unresolved #5 SP in the rotation should be looking at Hill. How much can he cost? This guy showed success at the major league level (in half the time he was there, granted) and odds are the nobodies the Cubs will accept will never do that.

Hill is still good purple monkey dishwasher and can come back from this little inconsistant streak he was showing in '08 granny in my fishbowl! And shame on the Cubs fans for dumpimg on Hill like this. If Ian Kennedy or Phil Hughes were like Hill was in '08 they would not talk trash soup with a clown shoe about them and trade them for scraps! And if Tommy Hanson is like Hill in '09, and the Braves fans talk about him like the Cubs fans have talked about Hill,I will be FIX THAT DAMN PEN IN MY ATTIC CHEESE really pissed!>:0

If my little brother does not stop fooling with my post a message box! I type a message and dont click post and walk out of the room, and that bastard fools with it and posts it. That doesnt even make sense!

Let's for a second return to the supposed non-trade of Tejada. The trade offer was something like:

Tejada-Bedard

FOR

Prior-Hill-CPatterson

That was just 2 years ago. It's amazing that what most Cubs fans were in such an uproar about then would have been a winning trade for the Cubs overall. Corey was marginally useful in the following year but is now pretty much on his way out of baseball. Hill is about there with him. Prior has been injured and ineffective since the rumors and is off the team. Bedard pitched a very strong '07 and gave the Os a one of the strongest trades in their favor in recent memory. Last year he was ineffective and injured. Now he is reportedly fully recovered and is a lock for the Ms rotation but the jury's still out on how effective or healthy he'll be. Tejada was traded to the Astros for a solid package of prospects right before all trade value would have dropped off the cliff (i.e. Before his AgeGate and Mitchell Report outings). That being said, he was productive for the Stros last year at a weak offensive position.

Knowing what we know now, The Cubs would have exhibited excellent foresight by making that decision without attachment or emotion. Unfortunately attachment and emotion very much prevented this trade. The whole period was marked by the Cubs side trying to bring down the package by swapping out both Hill and Prior for any other combination of prospects or young players.