Rich Hill on the move?
Reports yesterday were that Rich Hill was close to being traded to Baltimore for a player to be named later. Although nothing is yet official, it appears Rich is out of options with the Cubs and is indeed being shopped.
The Chicago Tribune reports that the Cubs are “working on a deal” while the Seattle Post Intelligencer is reporting that the Mariners have interest and could send a major league pitcher the Cubs way in order to make room for further signings. Of course, the Cubs just traded with both Baltimore and Seattle, giving up once top 10 prospects Felix Pie and Ronny Cedeno.
Hill had a promising 2006 and 2007 racking up 17 wins between the 2 seasons combined but started having command control issues in early 2008 and then struggled to find the strike zone even in the lowest levels of the Cubs’ minor league system. This news, especially his low value in the possible return from Baltimore, is extremely disappointing because just last offseason, Pie, Cedeno, and Hill would have been plenty to land O’s 2B Brian Roberts.
It is very unfortunate for the Cubs that they did not try to trade these players sooner. Their sell-high point has passed and now they are not really worth it to trade. It would have been ideal to trade the trio of young players for top tier 2B Roberts. However this is not the case the Cubbies will have to make do this season with what they do have—at present face value as well.