The Yankees have signed left-hander Rich Hill to a minor league deal and assigned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, according to Chad Jennings of LoHud.com (on Twitter). Hill is a client of ACES.
The 34-year-old Hill has made one appearance this season, with the Angels, but he allowed three walks and a hit without retiring a batter. That comes on the heels of an ugly 2013 season in which he posted a 6.28 ERA in 38 2/3 frames with the Indians.
However, Hill was very good at the Triple-A level with Boston in 2014, posting a 3.23 ERA with a 45-to-17 K/BB ratio in 39 innings of relief. The former Cubs starter last enjoyed success in the Majors in 2012 when he allowed four runs and struck out 21 in 19 2/3 innings of relief for Cleveland. He’s held lefties to a .215/.336/.338 batting line over parts of 10 Major League seasons.
Cashman does it again!!! Season SAVED
Rich Hill has an ERA of INFINITY this season! Yeah!!!
2 appearances with the angels
The Yankees sure do like former Red Sox players.
Hill really looked like he had a promising career after 2007. Maybe his success was predicated too much on a weird combo of pitches: not-that-fast-at-all-fastball setting up a Bugs Bunny curve that he used as the strikeout pitch.
His curveball is actually really great. Even still. The problem with a curve is that it rises out of the hand, then dives down, at slower velocity. If he can’t throw it for strikes, then you see it coming early, and you’re just sitting on his mid-80s fastball. No one gets hit harder than Hill.
He had an ugly 2013 not 2014… then again.
Maybe cashman can steal Chris Jones from the Birds
Desperation is calling and Yanks answered. They need help BAD
It’s a minor league signing, I wouldn’t call that desperation
Who are the Yankees starting pitchers currently? Chances are if he has a few half way decent starts in AAA he gets called up
Uhhhh, he’s not a starter. Then again, he’s not a reliever, either. He’s minor league filler.
On a strong healthy good farm every slot of every team is valuable, and has guys from below pushing to unseat players. The fact that signing Hill at this stage of his career was viable, says something about the state of pitching depth in the Yankees system right now.
Funny thing is, the O’s have pitching questions of their own. Their starting rotaiton ERA is actually worse than the Yankees rotation ERA (though I don’t expect that to last longer with Tanaka out)
And the Rays have the best team ERA in the division and they are in last place whereas the O’s have the worst rotation ERA and are in first place
“You can’t predict baseball”
I didn’t mention anything about the Os. I’m not comparing the Os and Yankees. I was just talking about the Yankees.
I don’t think the Os have a strong farm system. They’ve got 4 legit prospects up top and then a bunch of depth, but nothing promising longterm. And, yes, as you mentioned, the majorleague team is an imperfect team, specifically pitching.
That said, I’d rather have the Orioles blend of young lineup and rising young arms than what the Yankees have right now. The Yanks have a lot of declining old players and immovable contracts. I don’t think the contracts will affect them like they might with most teams, but it does affect them.
You’re right. They passed desperation a couple weeks ago. They’re in full blown hopelessness by now. Only a miracle can save their pitching woes this season.
Yeah. This is total desperation. They’ll call it depth, but anytime you’re acquiring Hill, it says something about your pitching situation.
Sad to see him bouncing around like this.
To infinity…and beyond! (That 2014 ERA)
Cashman is shoring up his pitching rotation. Francis, McCarthy, and now Hill. All retreads and instead of going with pitchers that are past their glory days, most GM’s would call up the young pitchers and ride out the season with them, regardless where they finish. Unfortunately, the fans don’t give the team that option and it is win at all costs, even if it means trading every prospect for a name player. Sad, very sad.
If they signed him and had 10 more wins everyone would tout it as a depth signing. All teams make moves like this during the season.
Hill has a great looping dive bombing curveball. The problem is that you see the hump of the breaking ball coming a mile away, and he can’t throw it consistently for strikes. The fastball is very average. So hitters rule out the curve, sit on the FB, and he gets walloped.
OK, if he is not a major league possibility, a minor league filler, please tell me, why do we need him? I get it he is over 34 and that in itself gets Cashman attention, forget his lack of talent, he has been dropped by how many teams, all the more reason for Cashman love.
As many pitchers as the team has called up from Scranton and you wonder why they need minor league filler?
ugh
The experiment continues.