The Cardinals have signed free agent lefty Rich Hill, and invited him to Spring Training according to the team's official Twitter feed. The Orioles non-tendered Hill after he posted a 7.80 ERA in 13 starts (and one relief appearance) last season, and he missed the second half after having surgery on his pitching shoulder.
The soon to be 30-year-old has been plagued by extreme control issues since the breakout 2007 season that saw him post a 3.92 ERA with a 8.4 K/9 in 32 starts for the Cubs. He's walked 111 batters in 141.1 innings since then, majors and minors.
i thought the dodgers were talking with him???
I think the Padres or Orioles and the Cardinals were talking with him.
Enter Dave Duncan…
Hill in 2010: 0.01 ERA, 36 wins, 497 K, 1 BB
One giant free agent contract later…
Hill in 2011: 9.67 ERA, 1 win, 2 K, 129 BB
Cardinals would control his rights as he is still doesnt have enough service time for outright free agency
Um… Joking…
That was awesome. Can’t believe someone “corrected” you, but that was absolutely dead on. 497k made me laugh out loud.
Yep. The last time we had this guy his name was Jeff Weaver: 3-10 with the Angels, 5-4 with the Cards. Good risk/reward ratio.
Weaver was good again in LA last season, so Weaver just hates Anaheim and Seattle, lol.
Where would this franchise be without Dave Duncan?
Dave Duncan has taken pitchers with less talent than Rich Hill and helped them become productive pitchers. As a Cub fan, I can’t poo-poo this at all. It’s a low risk, high reward deal for the Cards. Nice signing…
does anyone have a scouting report on hiM? if he is a sinker/slider/2seam ish pitcher, he’s gonna fit right in with dave duncan, if he likes to get a ton of K’s..he will struggle.
If someone can throw ball >80 MPH off a mound, he’ll fit right in with Dave Duncan.
Not the repetoire you’d expect with his SO numbers; meh FB, big loopy curve.
Hill works off a high 80s, low 90s fastball and a big, looping 12 to 6 curve. And when right, he is a strikeout pitcher. I don’t know what Duncan’s plans are for Hill…he is different than the typical Duncan reclamation project but as a ST invite, they don’t have much to lose by trying.
Duncan’s plan: Make him a sinker baller.
Like every other pitcher the Cardinals have ever had under Duncan.
In other words, he’s going to transform him from a 4 seam, 12-6 curveball guy into a 2 seamer, slider guy? That’s pretty sad to me. It’s like trading in your ’67 Mustang for a 2006 Toyota Camry. Sure the Camry is more efficient, but the Mustang is way cooler. I would have like to have seen Rich Hill succeed with his old school arsenal, but you gotta do what you gotta do, I guess.
Well this ’67 Mustang doesn’t even have an engine in it anymore.
Nah…that analogy doesn’t work. Hill can still throw low 90s and spin the curve…his engine is fine…it’s his control that’s off. If you would have said, for example, that the alignment was off that would have been much more clever. But thanks for playing.
I don’t know about that because even if you throw 200 mph, if you can’t put it in the zone, you won’t do well. You can have sub-par stuff but have great control and win games.
Or you can be like my man Timmeh!!! Lincecum and just be flat out amazing.
I’d like to see Lincecum stay healthy throughout his career. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of numbers he puts up when all is said and done. I wish the Cubs would have signed him in 2003 when they drafted him in the 48th round out of high school. But the decision to go to school has definitely worked out for him financially!
Well, I’ve studied his mechanics quite a bit, and they seem to be quite good. They do put more strain on the back than normal, but considering his workout, diet, and the fact that he’s been throwing like this for the better part of his life it should be no problem. So unless he gets into some Prior like accidents, I don’t see why it’s not possible.I would have loved that but then again I would have never followed him through his career at Washington if we did.
In other words, he’s going to transform him from a 4 seam, 12-6 curveball guy into a 2 seamer, slider guy? That’s pretty sad to me. It’s like trading in your ’67 Mustang for a 2006 Toyota Camry. Sure the Camry is more efficient, but the Mustang is way cooler. I would have like to have seen Rich Hill succeed with his old school arsenal, but you gotta do what you gotta do, I guess.
He’s a 4-seam high fastball pitcher that works well with his wicked 12 to 6 curveball.. I would say a flyball pitcher. Fastball really compliments the high fastball if he can get it over the plate which he only proved in the 2007 season
i hear rich hill can earn up to $500k in incentives based on number of sinkers thrown.
No, they opted out of this when Pineiro earned an extra 5 mill last year. They also did the same with quotes stating “My non-game pitching workout went really well” because of Wellemeyer.
Oh goody, just what we needed 🙁
Good signing, but I hope this isn’t the last…
please dont tell me this means no calero/springer/smoltz….hopefully we can make a run at floppy
This may very well spell the end of Smoltz and the cards, which is probably for the best he really wasn’t that great for us other than the san diego start. It sounds like they will let Hill and the kids duke it out for the 5th spot.
I still think they can add a guy like Springer for the Pen and Floppy for the bench.
This may very well spell the end of Smoltz and the cards, which is probably for the best he really wasn’t that great for us other than the san diego start. It sounds like they will let Hill and the kids duke it out for the 5th spot.
I still think they can add a guy like Springer for the Pen and Floppy for the bench.
Good move for the Cards, low risk, moderate reward type. I hope he does well unless they’re playing the Cubs, it’d be nice to see him get his career back on track.
Agreed. I never understood what went wrong with him in Chicago. Thought he had a big future after 2007. I remember in 2008 against the cardinals a game where he walked the bases loaded in the first and piniella pulled him and sent him down after the game. Never really saw much from him after that.
Left handed pitcher who showed great promise early in his career, then experienced control issues. Any chance he can hit a curveball? He can take Ankiel’s old spot in the lineup.
Non-roster invitee, so this seems to be a no-risk, high reward kind of move. Hope he works out, but it he doesn’t, its not like they spent anything.
Yeah, if he doesn’t pan out to be the #5 or a relief guy (although the Cards already have 2 lefties in the pen) He could be the new Rick Ankiel. He would have to grow a mean mustache though.
I think Brendan has enough mustache to go around.
Championship!!
I’m really just hoping he comes up with more Sniglets.
Awesome. I was really young when that show was on. I was always confused by Sniglets – I never really found them funny but always suspected I was too young and just didn’t get the joke….was I right? Or were they just dumb all around?
I think the Cards should now invite Mulder or offer league minimum and hope one of the two work out. If both work out then they have great depth for the rotation which isn’t a bad idea when you have injury prone starters like the Cards do
Hill will compete against Garcia for the 5th spot – no need for Mulder
You wouldn’t give Mulder a spring training invite at least?
It seems they aren’t confident Garcia could pitch a full season this year coming off surgery, I think they want him to build up arm strength in AAA and no one outside Garcia is really a suitable option IMO and Hill is far from a sure thing, I think bringing in Mulder as well hopefully we could atleast get half a season from one of the two
Hill will compete against Garcia for the 5th spot – no need for Mulder
I think the Cards should now invite Mulder or offer league minimum and hope one of the two work out. If both work out then they have great depth for the rotation which isn’t a bad idea when you have injury prone starters like the Cards do
Hell why not add in Mark Prior too lol
Hell why not add in Mark Prior too lol
Glad we got Hill. Meaning if Dunc can wave his magic, he can fix Hills problems. Now all they need is a couple bench guys. Maybe if STL waits long enough, through Spring Training, if Baltimore release one of their 3rd baseman, STL can jump right onto it and sign one of them.
hey they can convert him to a center fielder like they did Ainkel.
It will always be too soon with that crass comment.
No kidding.
i like the signing of the lefty hill, we havent had a lefty in the rotation since Mulder ha, but we missed out on smoltz which wont bother me if dunc can fix hill like he has so many others the only thing is all those others has 2-seamers and sinkers he’s more of a loopy curve ball and low fastball kind of guy
i like the signing of the lefty hill, we havent had a lefty in the rotation since Mulder ha, but we missed out on smoltz which wont bother me if dunc can fix hill like he has so many others the only thing is all those others has 2-seamers and sinkers he’s more of a loopy curve ball and low fastball kind of guy