JULY 8: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports that Hill receives a $1MM assignment bonus due to the fact that he was traded (links to Twitter). Hill received the same bonus this past winter when being shipped from Phoenix to Milwaukee, he adds. Tim Britton of the Providence Journal tweets that the Sox are only paying a “modest” amount of the remaining commitment to Hill, with Arizona and Milwaukee on the hook for most of the remaining money.
JULY 7: The Brewers announced that they have traded Aaron Hill and cash considerations to the Red Sox in exchange for minor league right-hander Aaron Wilkerson and minor league second baseman Wendell Rijo. The Sox announced the trade as well, adding that outfielder Ryan LaMarre has been designated for assignment to clear a spot on the roster.
[Related: Updated Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers depth charts]
The 34-year-old Hill, traded from the D-backs to the Brewers this past offseason, has been enjoying a rebound campaign in Milwaukee, batting .283/.359/.421 with eight homers, 11 doubles and four steals in 292 plate appearances. While he’s played second base for most of his career, Hill has played third base in 59 games this season, compared to just 20 contests spent playing second base. He’ll provide the ailing Red Sox with some infield depth and also presents Boston with a capable platoon partner for Travis Shaw, who has batted .211/.240/.380 against left-handed pitching this year. Hill is in the final season of a three-year, $35MM deal that pays him $12MM in 2016. The D-backs, however, are on the hook for $6.5MM of that sum as part of the aforementioned trade, and the Brewers will cover a yet undetermined portion of the money remaining on his deal, so the financial implications for the Red Sox figure to be relatively minimal.
LaMarre, 27, is the roster casualty for Hill. He signed with Boston on a minor league deal this winter and appeared in six games but has spent most of his time in Triple-A, where he’s batted .313/.383/.475 in 180 trips to the plate. The Sox will have 10 days to trade LaMarre or try to pass him through outright waivers in an attempt to keep him in the organization as a non-40-man player. Prior to this season, the former second-round pick had spent his entire career in the Reds organization. He’s a .267/.332/.409 hitter in parts of four Triple-A seasons.
For the Brewers, they’ll now turn to a combination of Will Middlebrooks, Hernan Perez and Jake Elmore at the hot corner, GM David Stearns told the media (Twitter link via the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Todd Rosiak). Middlebrooks has enjoyed a nice season at Triple-A Colorado Springs, batting .282/.308/.508 with 10 homers, although that production does come in an excessively hitter-friendly environment. Perez and Elmore give the Brewers a pair of alternatives that come with a fair share of MLB experience, though each is more of a utility player than an everyday option for the club in the long term.
Of the two prospects acquired by the Brewers in this deal, Rijo has received more fanfare on prospect rankings. MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis have him 17th among Boston farmhands at the moment, while Baseball America rated him 15th following the season and Fangraphs’ Dan Farnsworth placed him 22nd in the offseason. The 20-year-old opened the season at Double-A but struggled as one of the youngest players in the Eastern League, hitting just .186/.245/.266 in 51 games. He was moved back down to Class-A Advanced when Yoan Moncada arrived in Double-A, and he’s batting an improved .270/.364/.324 in 11 games. Callis and Mayo note that a previous ACL injury has dropped Rijo from a plus runner to an average runner, but he offers plenty of gap power and the upside for double-digit home runs once he adds to his 5’11”, 170-pound frame. BA notes that he’s made some improvements at second base and has the potential to be an everyday option that racks up doubles, though Farnsworth pegged him as more of a bench player or fringe regular.
Wilkerson was absent from the club’s prospect rankings, but the 27-year-old did just land on Jason Martinez’s most recent edition of “Knocking Down the Door” here at MLBTR due to his strong performance for Boston’s Triple-A affiliate. In 92 1/3 innings between Boston’s Double-A and Triple-A affiliates this season, Wilkerson has compiled an oustanding 2.14 ERA with 9.9 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9 and a 40.3 percent ground-ball rate (via MLBFarm.com). The Texas native went undrafted out of college due to the fact that he required Tommy John surgery as a senior in college. That unfortunate realization led him to the independent circuit, where eventually caught the eyes of Boston scouts and signed with the Sox as a 25-year-old back in 2014. The Boston Herald’s Evan Drellich profiled Wilkerson’s unusual path to affiliated ball back in April, and as Jason noted in the above-linked piece, that path may have him on the cusp of the Major Leagues. The Brewers are currently relying on Matt Garza, Jimmy Nelson, Chase Anderson, Junior Guerra and Zach Davies in the rotation, but Wilkerson could be one of the top alternatives in the event that the club incurs an injury in the rotation or finds a trade partner for Garza.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
We needed Wilkerson for the rotation what is this nonsense
Sox wanted a right handed infielder and thats exactly what they got. He will fill in while Shaw is injured which allows Holt to stay in LF. When shaw comes back he will make a quality bench piece.
Wilkerson is not the answer, the Sox are drowning with #5 starters.
We no, not really. They’re drowning in guys not good enough to be #5 starters. Wilkerson may have been. It’s an interesting move to say the least. But it definitely gives them some depth off the bench which is something Farrell needed. And it’s certainly a lot easier to acquire an infielder than a #2 starter.
I dont see why Sean OSullivan cant fill the role Wilkerson would have.m, fringey starter with good recent run. And Im not sold on the kdea that neither ERod nor Owens will shape up to be at least a servicable arm by September. Wilkerson screams expendable, thats my only point.
O’Sullivan has had one decent start at the ML level this year. He could fill the role, but there’s no way to know whether Wilkerson wouldn’t have been much better at it. Owens hasn’t been able to put it together at the ML level. I firmly believe ERod will be able to come back and have success, but he would be your #4. I’m not saying Wilkerson is a great loss, but he could have easily been a better option than O’Sullivan, who is one bad start away from his second DFA this season.
You don’t think Dombrowski is going to add another starter? Of course he is. He has to. That leaves no room for Wilkerson who is a journeyman AAAA player at best. There is a reason that he wasn’t called up sooner in the year and that is because the Red Sox did not want to subject him to major league hitting, have him get shelled, and thus he loses the little trade value he had.
I don’t know what DD is planning. But here’s a guy you have who is doing everything right at AAA, and playing better than some guys who did get a chance. There’s only one way to truly know how a player will perform at the ML level and that is to actually play him there. O’Sullivan is most likely not the number 5 answer. And now you have one less guy to try there. You can’t guarantee a move for another pitcher. There are only so many available and there’s a huge demand. This move fills a small hole by trading a player who could have filled a much larger one.
E. Rodriguez will be the #5 before season is done. Assuming Wright regresses to #4 and Porcello stays at #3, or vice versa, we need a #2. But don’t know if that is out there. Maybe we add another Hill later on from Oakland?
Wilkerson has smoked the minor leagues. He’s keeping AAA hitting to a .205 BAA and has well over 9K’s per 9. He’s done that at every level. The kid went undrafted and wound up in the Independent leagues. I’m not quite sure we can label him a #5 starter until he gets to the show. I think Milwaukee fleeced the BoSox here.
I agree… Sox didn’t even give him a chance when no one is pitching well and he’s got a 2.20 ERA at AAA… Like wtf!
Finesse pitchers tend to do better in the minors. Look at Wade LeBlanc’s numbers this season.
I thought he deserved a shot. At least give him one start. What’d we have to lose, Dave? Red Sox 4th and 5th starters combined for 40.0 innings in nine June starts for an ERA of 10.58. Take out Buchholz’s 6.01 ERA for the month in two starts, and the other three, Rodriguez (5 starts), Elias (1), and Kelly (1) combined for a 12.13 ERA
Stats derived from Fangraphs leaderboards.
Where will he play for them
3rd base, vs lefties, off the bench…
Red Sox are just getting started I think.
Agreed.
Yep
Welcome to Missippi Moncada!
Where is Missippi?
Right next to Mississippi 😉
I think it’s in Alabama
Why?
Because he’s having a good year and the Sox need help? So why not?
Probably playing him at 3rd once Shaw gets swapped for pitching.
Can’t say Shaw’s really a good enough player to bring back the type of pitcher they’d need. He’s young and controllable sure, but he’s a .270 hitter with an uppercut swing that has been hugely exposed. Can’t really see Shaw being a non-negotiable must be included in a trade.
I haven’t heard Shaw’s name in rumors… But it’s interesting to see that once Devers got hot they made a move that would make Shaw expendable. I guess we’ll see.
I will say though that I wouldn’t mind trading Devers for pitching and keeping Shaw because I love his glove and his hitting is fine enough anyway
Not a fan of Shaw sticking as a starter at the ML level. He’s a good role player, not starting material. Devers has a much bigger upside. I’d be willing to move him as the centerpiece for a #2, but I really rather wouldn’t.
Could have been the Red Sox 2016 rotation:
Jon Lester………………………..2.67
Rich Hill………………………………2.25
Stephen Wright………….2.68
John Lackey…………………..3.50
Rick Porcello…………………3.82
Boo
It looks like 3B. But losing a pitching prospect that was pitching good at Triple A is nonsense.
I don’t really understand this. I’m not sure about shaws splits at third but hill has been pretty good this season. To me, it seems like either hell platoon at third, be used as a right handed utility player (Hernandez and holt both bat left handed as present bench players) or this will yield a move to left for shaw. I’m interested to see how it plays out
Maybe Shaw’s injury is worse than they had hoped.
No, they just desperately needed a RH hitting bench player.
According to most sox beat writers are suggesting bigger deals in the works! Hill can play all over the infield and is the right hand hitting platoon option Farrell needed
I like this move. Good, veteran presence, who should enjoy being back in the AL East. Versatile, and has even been running a little more. Good, under the radar move.
Agreed. Don’t want to be cursing when they put in a LOOGY when Shaw hits the plate in late innings all season long.
If the Red Sox use there assets to acquire a piece like Cargo instead of pitching I’d laugh.
What big deals are about to Happen? CarGo?
I like it too. There has been times where A Hill performs very well. If they get him anywhere near that, they’ll be very happy. Plus it’s depth. And I am very intrigued at him seeing action vs. lefties at 3B
Didn’t see that coming honestly
Solid pickup. for the cost.
Rutledge had been pretty solid at 3rd until mid June after he was called up from Pawtucket and he wasn’t costing 6m towards the cap. Not sure how much longer Rutledge will be on the DL with knee tendinitis tho, then add the uncertainty with Shaw.. Man, would think could make it with Hernandez a few days instead instead of using cap space on this.
Not that any of the guys given up matter.. Rijo bottomed out and was sent back to High A ball.. Wilkerson? They have several other kids they can throw out there better than bucholz. LaMarre just gets rid of another retread off the Pawsox roster.. Which is always a good thing.
There is no cap in MLB. Hill isn’t gonna cost most if the Brewers are sending cash. Hill has been productive. Solid pick up.
Yeah I like this trade for both teams, and maybe the previous commenter was referring to the luxury tax?
Not only that, bit Arizona is still paying half his salary. Add whatever the Brewers chipped in and he’s cheap for a versatile veteran bat.
What cap space? There is no salary cap in baseball and they are only responsible for a part of his remaining money! The Red Sox desperately needed a RH bench player and they got a solid one.
“They have several other kids they can throw out there better than bucholz.”
Really? Let’s see there’s
Roenis Elias 15.88 ERA 2016 (Boston), 1.47 WHIP in 12 starts (Pawtucket)
Eduardo Rodriguez 8.59 ERA, 1,74 WHIP in 6 starts (Boston)
William Cuevas 6 BB in first 5 major league innings (Boston)
Henry Owens 13 BB in 12.1 IP, 2.11 WHIP (Boston), and 58 walks in 83 IP, that’s 6.29 BB per 9 IP (Pawtucket)
Aaron Wilkerson gone
Sean O’Sullivan 6.61 ERA, 2016 (Boston), 5.99 ERA career
Joe Kelly 8.46 ERA, 19 BB in 22.1 IP (Boston) — 1 recent rehab inning in Lowell, NY-Penn League
You are really judging a guy to be useless after 5 innings at the ML level? Your whole comment is exactly why some people shouldn’t be stat guys. You apparently know nothing about small samples or the concept of outliers. Some Red Sox fans will never be happy unless Boston goes 162-0 and even then they will complain about the number of walks given up.
“You are really judging a guy to be useless after 5 innings at the ML level?”
No, I did not judge him or any of them to be useless. The sample size of Cuevas was smaller than any of the others, and I was aware of that. However, the statement being addressed was that the Red Sox “have several other kids they can throw out there better than Bucholz..” Nothing any of those I’ve listed have done have established that they are presently better pitchers than Bucholz. A couple of them yet might be. I’m not Buchholz lover by any means. I thought they should have traded him years ago. But his career ERA is 4.00, and his ERA in 18 starts last season was 3.26.
Cuevas will probably get another shot this year or next. However, there’s probably good reasons for him to be ranked only 44th at SoxProspects.com (up from 50th in April). Cuevas is 25 years old, has been in the organization since 2009. Overall his stats at Pawtucket aren’t particularly impressive, but better last year in 7 starts than this year in 14.
Joe Kelly might one day be more reliable than Buchholz, but I certainly wouldn’t consider him to be so now. He had a very strong stretch of 8 or 9 starts last August-September, after pitching horribly for four months.
Roenis Elias certainly will have more chances, given that for Seattle he established in 2014 and 2015 that he can pitch well at the major league level.
Sean O’Sullivan, who is 28, projects as a solid 6.00 ERA man. He’ll never approach Buchholz.
The issues of Eduardo Rodriguez are well documented: tipping pitches, poor command of fastball, predictable pitch selection due to lack of confidence in his slider and cutter. Much better to have him work on these things in AAA.
Henry Owens has had control issues throughout his minor league career, but the problems have worsened this year. His 1.48 WHIP this season at Pawtucket is 27.5% higher than his previous high at any minor league level since his first professional season, at Greenville. He might work his issues out one day, but fixing the control problems needs to be done at AAA.
Like Owens, Roenis Elias is not making a good case for himself in Pawtucket. His 2016 AAA K/BB ratio, opp. BA, and WHIP are worse than his corresponding ML stats in 2014-2015. Elias won a spot in Seattle’s rotation in 2014 without having ever pitched in AAA. He had one AAA start late in 2014, in August, though it’s not clear why since he was pitching well for Seattle and was immediately brought back up and inserted back into the rotation. He performed very poorly for Tacoma (Mariners AAA team) in April and July-August 2015. Was sent down from Seattle after a poor June 2015, though he pitched very well in May and September last season for Seattle.
Is he a free agent next offseason?
Yep – final year of a 5 year contract.
Shaw, Benentendi, Vasquez, Owens and Espinoza for Sale.
Get it done big Dave!
Nope. Anybody in the minors except Benintendi and Moncada. Deep system, they can get the pitching they need with other prospects. I agree, trade Shaw now.
If the pitching they need is Chris Sale, then they definitely can’t get that without either dipping into their young studs on the big league roster (probably one plus a couple prospects) or completely pillaging the farm of all their major talent. No system is deep enough to get an ace (especially one on a great contract) without having their top level talent on the table. You know how many teams they’d be competing with IF Sale were to become available (he won’t)? A LOT
Try again
……… That’s a joke, right?
No way.
Nice job by the Brewers in turning Hill into some interesting prospects. Must mean Shaw will be out long term.
Shaw will be out a maximum of 3 games !
Solid play by DD. Wilkerson was a nice story but not going to play at the big league level. This a depth move and it makes a ton of sense.
Nice! And will Middlebrooks is playing great like he did when he first came up with Boston so I’m happy
Oh, please. Middlebrooks had one good month in AAA, and was hitting .215 outside of Colorado Springs. He’s not even the clear choice to replace Hill. Hernan Perez will see time there as well.
A big surprised. But I do have to wonder if some teams have been asking about Shaw’s availability.
Now for the Julio Teheran Trade….
Red Sox Get: Teheran, Albeis, and Vizcaino
Braves Get: Moncada, Swihart, and Benentindi
No. Just no. Beintendi and Moncada are NOT going in the same deal unless it’s for someone with FAR more upside than Teheran. I’m not even convinced one of them is worth Teheran and I’d rather the Sox miss the playoffs than make a bad desperate deal.
braves fans are so misinformed
All fans tend to create silly trade offers. Since there isn’t a good place to look into good trade offers anywhere on line.
We are not misinformed. Some of us are just delusional. Same can be said for any fan base. *cough*RedSox*cough*
While other fans like to ignorantly paint entire fanbases with one brush.
As great as this would be for the Braves it isn’t happening. Teheran and Vizciano for Benentindi, Swihart and Lakins quite possibly. I’m a Braves fan but not way they send Benentindi and Moncada.
Moncada is not going anywhere. $63 million invested in him.
There is ZERO chance the Red Sox do that deal!!! LOL The absurdity of that makes me laugh.
Not a chance at all
That’s a nice offer actually, but personally I would pass
Why the hell did we trade our best starter in AAA for more offense. I hate this trade.
I feel like you’re the only one that agrees with me here… We need pitching 1000x more than hitting and we didn’t even give Wilkerson a shot even though his 2.20 ERA in 44 AAA innings is about half the ERA on 3/5 of our staff. Even though that’s in AAA, it’s still HALF
He’s also a 27-year-old pitcher who doesn’t throw hard and was undrafted for a reason. I would pay very little attention to stats for veteran minor leaguers.
Wilkerson is AAAA player and nothing more! You people think he is the next coming of Pedro Martinez have to realize there is a reason that he was in AAA. Major League hitters will feast on his stuff.
relax there fella nobody thinks he is Pedro
Not claiming him the next Pedro… I’m just saying he deserved a shot. Fun fact, cliff lee didn’t throw harder than 90-92 while often times staying in that 88-91 range… You don’t need great stuff to get outs, should’ve been given a chance
Brewers are getting a lot out of Zach Davies who’s fastball sits at 89 mph. Cubs are getting a lot out of Kyle Hendricks, another finesse type. Assuming a guy who lacks a mid 90’s fastball can’t have success is simply foolish.
Keep dreaming Braves fan.
-All right guys, we need starting pitching
-Hey I have an idea. Lets get Aaron Hill
-Why in the world would we do that?
-*trades for Aaron Hill*
Because Shaw can’t hit lefties. Pretty simple, really.
Brewers had lots of teams with interest in Hill, who besides being a solid player is an excellent clubhouse presence. He proved he’s still an everyday player. Having him as a platoon/depth option helps the Red Sox.
helps out the bench issue. DD has more up his sleeve i imagine
Surprised Wilkerson didn’t get a spot start at some point, but do like this move as depth piece/platoon partner/injury insurance for Shaw. Can play 2nd base when Pedey makes his annual pilgrimage to the DL.
The Red Sox saw Barney and Goins pitch and decided that was a good idea….
Could have been the Red Sox 2016 rotation:
Jon Lester………………………..2.67
Rich Hill………………………………2.25
Stephen Wright………………..2.68
John Lackey…………………..3.50
Rick Porcello…………………3.82
It’s a shame we couldn’t send the Sox Garza, too. He would have looked so sharp in a Boston jersey.
The return would have been nothing if they included Garza.
Maybe Dombrowski thought he was getting Rich Hill?
You have Rijo’s path wrong. He started in Portland and was sent down to Salem once Moncada arrived.
Us Braves fan’s need to get passed the idea of trading Teheran to the Sox. Yes, they may be a good fit, but I don’t think the pieces are there unless the Sox get desperate. The Sox are in a terrible position with SP, but let’s be honest, so is most the AL. There are only like 5 AL SP all stars. I think Teheran should not be dealt unless someone way overpays. To expect a trade like Shelby Miller again would kind of crazy. No way would the Sox get desperate enough to add Mancada. Plus, We know what we are getting in Teheran, and it is a solid #2/3 that is controllable. Let’s keep him.
He’s a 2. Not a question there. He’s a low 1, high 2 on an incredible contract given his performance every single full big season except when he toyed with a sinker in the first half of 2015. End of discussion
Almost all scouts, and analysts would disagree with you. Numbers show he’s due for a big regression. He’s a middle of the rotation starter at best on a great controlled salary for the next few years.
I think he’s this…so end of discussion (even though I’m wrong)
Red Sox fans wonder why we need offense? Because of the amount of runners left on base on a regular basis. Want to know what wins games if pitching sucks, scoring more runs. Price allowing 3 runs is a winnable game, but not when you leave 14 runners on base. Sox have one of the worst benches in baseball.
Its also foolish to assume Hill is DD’s big move to make the team better.
What is scary is that the Sox already score a ton of runs even leaving that many runners on base. Imagine if they left less runners. That is scary.
Boston has the worst LOB in the entire MLB for the season, this is why Hill was added, hoping that in late games it is Hill not Ryan LaMarre or Marco Hernandez trying to win us the game.
LOB tends to be inversely proportional to OBP. Boston, Pittsburgh, Chicago Cubs, Miami, SF rank highest in LOB thus far, in that order. The top five in OBP are Boston, Chi. Cubs, Pittsburgh, SF, Colorado. Miami is 8th.
According to Yahoo Sports mlb stats, for the season Boston has the following stats and ranking, with runners in scoring position:
RBI 333 (1st)
BA .285 (4th, behind St. Louis, Texas, Baltimore)
OBP .371 (2nd)
SLG .470 (5th)
Correction: LOB is generally proportional to OBP. LOB ranking, lowest to highest, tends to be roughly inversely proportional to OBP. Cincinnati and Philadelphia, for example, are 1st and 2nd in LOB ranking, but they are 28th and 30th, respectively, in OBP.
Aaron Hill is excellent depth for my Sox, I think this is really a great under the radar move. Once we improve our pitching just a bit we’ll be right back on top of the East. We’re going to win the division, our line up is just this good.
Baumer, I wouldn’t say “at best” middle of rotation. Middle of the rotation is his floor. Even in his bad 2015 season he would have been a middle of rotation guy for any team. But, overall I agree with your statement.
No. A 1 win pitcher is not a middle of the rotation guy for “any team”. Maybe for bad teams. Teams with championship aspirations will rarely fill out the middle of their rotation with 1 win pitchers.
Wins are a useless stat. If you are on a bad team then you won’t get wins. Plus, where are you getting 1 win from?
I’m pretty sure when he says Win he means Wins Above Replacement. A 1 WAR pitcher is what he should have said.
Oh God. Yeah, you just lost all credibility when you tried to use wins as a meaningful stat.
See my comment to krillin.
Wow. Hill got traded to a contender andddd made a million dollars? That’s a great contract clause.
MissleBrooks is back. Watch the Rake Show now !
Love that Boston fans are calling Braves fans delusional, when they think they can get Chris Sale without giving up Moncado or Benintendi!! That’s rich!
Please name some trades for top, young controllable pitchers that weren’t over pays at the time!!! (Not change of scenery trades where the pitcher is struggling)!
I’m sure they’d love to give up Moncado
I didn’t think anyone would come up with that type of trade!! FYI- I don’t think any team has ever loved giving up top prospects!
I think he was making fun of your for misspelling Moncada’s name.
Well, I guess he got me!
Why Do the red Sox need another infielder? At best. A A Ron Hill is average.