General manager Ben Cherington said a few days before Christmas that the Pirates hoped to add to their starting rotation. After the holiday, Pittsburgh did that in a creative and unexpected way, inking 42-year-old left-hander Rich Hill to a one-year, $8 million contract.
The deal is pending a physical, a source confirmed to the Post-Gazette, and thus has not been announced. Until that time, though, and even after it, there's plenty to dissect when it comes to how the signing may impact the Pirates and what the thinking could be here.
Hill made 26 starts for the Red Sox last season, going 8-7 with a 4.27 ERA in 124 1/3 innings. In addition to producing a 3.92 FIP, Hill walked 37 and and struck out 109. He pitched for the Rays and Mets in 2021, appearing in 32 games and making 31 starts.
The 158 2/3 innings Hill worked in 2021 represent the second-most of his career and his highest-total since pitching 195 with the Cubs in 2007. This will mark the 19th MLB season for Hill, who turned 43 in March.
Hill, of course, is MLB's oldest player. He could potentially pitch to Endy Rodriguez, who's two decades younger, and will have only one teammate (Carlos Santana, 36) within a dozen years of him. Hill is already older than two MLB managers (Oliver Marmol in St. Louis and Rocco Baldelli of the Twins).
Not that any of the age stuff is expected to matter for someone who's pretty much universally loved by teammates and regarded a terrific clubhouse guy, a baseball lifer who was playing independent ball with the Atlantic League's Long Island Ducks in 2015.
After spending four seasons as a reliever, Hill returned to starting with Boston, producing a 1.55 ERA and 36 strikeouts over four starts to close 2015. The Athletics signed Hill that November, he had a 2.25 in 14 starts with them, and the back nine of his career was officially recalibrated as a starter. Over his past eight seasons, Hill amazingly has a 3.32 ERA in 788 innings pitched.
Besides his veteran-ness and terrific character, Hill is also know for his big, looping curveball, which he used to hold opposing hitters to a .231 batting average and .379 slugging percentage while throwing it 35.9% of the time last season. It averaged 72 mph in 2022, a 17-mph drop from his four-seamer.
The way Hill pitches can be fun. When he's on, he attacks the strike zone with incredible stuff and works fast. He certainly doesn't throw hard, though strikeouts tend to come. He's been equally as good limiting contact and using his defense.
Hill's knowledge of pitching should surely help a young staff, the same for what Santana is expected to do on the position-player side. It also helps that the Pirates now have a left-hander in their starting rotation.
Hill was a fourth-round pick of the Cubs in 2002. In his 18-year career, Hill is 82-59 with a 3.85 ERA. He's made 221 starts and pitched in 350 games. When looking at rates per nine innings, Hill has walked 3.4 and struck out 9.3.
In addition to the Red Sox, Mets, Cubs and Rays, Hill has also pitched for the Orioles, Yankees, Angels, Indians/Guardians, Athletics, Twins and Dodgers.
Pirates fans should know Hill well for a bunch of reasons, since he's taken the mound while four different men have occupied the White House, but one of them involves a game on Aug. 23, 2017, when Hill had a perfect game going through eight ... until a fielding error by Logan Forsythe in the ninth
Josh Harrison ended Hill's no-hit bid with a walkoff home run in the 10th inning. It became the first extra-innings walkoff homer to break up a no-hitter and second walkoff hit following Harvey Haddix in 1959.
After spending 3 1/2 seasons with the Dodgers from 2016-2019, Hill signed a free agent deal with the Twins for 2020 and made eight starts for manager Derek Shelton's former club, pitching to a 3.03 ERA. Hill also has a strong link with Cherington, who was in Boston for two of the pitcher's three stints (2010-12 and 2015).
Although Hill has made 13 postseason appearances, 12 of them starts, he has not won a World Series. Given the structure of this deal and the success the Pirates have had flipping veteran lefty starters, Hill would certainly qualify as a rental, to be shipped to a contender at the deadline.
What happens to the rotation could also become interesting. For now, the Pirates have spots allocated to Mitch Keller, Roansy Contreras, JT Brubaker and Vince Velasquez. Johan Oviedo was believed to be a contender for a spot and pitched well at the end of 2022.
So did Luis Ortiz, though he has more flexibility roster-wise and could start the season in Triple-A. This all but pushes out fringe candidates such as Bryse Wilson and Zach Thompson when it comes to joining the rotation. It also sort of blocks Quinn Priester and Mike Burrows.
Not that many Pirates fans will mind. Hill is a highly regarded and legitimate arm, and also one who has done a solid job in his battle with Father Time.
