Today: The Red Sox and Rich Hill have formally agreed on a minor league deal, reports Ian Browne of MLB.com. The veteran will report to Triple-A Worcester on Tuesday.
August 15: The Red Sox and Rich Hill are close to finalizing a minor league contract, reports Rob Bradford of WEEI (X link). It’d be his fourth separate stint in Boston if he gets to the big leagues by the end of the season. Including minor league deals, it’ll be his eighth contract with the organization.
Those have spanned multiple front offices going as far back as 2010. Hill is a Boston-area native who is clearly comfortable with the organization. Staying close to home is appealing. Hill waited to sign until this late in the season in large part so he could coach his son’s Little League team in Milton, Massachusetts this spring.
While he won’t step directly onto the Sox roster, Hill could make a few appearances with Triple-A Worcester to get into game shape. It’d be a surprise if the Red Sox don’t call him up at some point before season’s end. Hill reportedly drew attention from the Yankees, Dodgers and Twins, among others, during his recent throwing sessions.
Boston is a sensible fit beyond the geographical connection. The Red Sox went into deadline season with questions about their rotation depth. They brought in James Paxton in a trade with the Dodgers. He only made it through three starts before suffering a partially torn right calf that’ll probably end his season. That temporarily left the Sox with a four-man rotation of Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, Nick Pivetta and Tanner Houck. The Sox are planning to reinstate Cooper Criswell from the virus-related injured list to start tomorrow against the Orioles. He’s likely to step into the fifth starter role, but he’d been working in relief for a couple weeks before going on the shelf. The Red Sox may want to keep a close eye on his pitch counts.
From the start of the season, the Sox’s rotation depth has been one of their biggest questions. They lost Lucas Giolito before the year started. Garrett Whitlock went down in April with an oblique issue. He hurt his elbow while building back up and underwent season-ending surgery. Houck, Crawford, Pivetta and Criswell all stepped up as the Sox had a surprisingly strong rotation for the first few months. They’ve had a much tougher time of late.
Red Sox starters have a 5.28 earned run average since the All-Star Break, a better mark only than that of the Angels, White Sox, Rockies and Rangers. Crawford and Pivetta have gotten battered by the home run ball. Houck’s strikeout rate has fallen off a cliff as he’s gotten to a career-high workload. Only Bello has maintained or improved upon his early-season production.
Hill isn’t going to single-handedly salvage the group. The 44-year-old southpaw turned in solid back-of-the-results from 2021-22. He had a tougher time last year, allowing a 5.41 ERA through 146 1/3 innings. Much of that came in a dismal 10 outings for the Padres after they acquired him at the deadline. Hill had a more reasonable 4.76 ERA in 22 starts for the Pirates before the trade. The Sox will hope they get something closer to last year’s first half version without Hill needing to work a full season. If he gets to the majors, he could potentially work as a tandem starter with Criswell or push the righty back into a multi-inning relief capacity.
It has been an atypical situation. Hill has floated the possibility of a late-season signing for a few years but hadn’t committed to it until last offseason. MassLive’s Chris Cotillo writes that the 19-year veteran declined major league offers from Texas, Pittsburgh and Oakland over the winter. Beyond the family considerations, he pointed to the opportunity to ensure he was joining a team that had a chance to compete for a playoff position. Boston is 2.5 games behind the Royals for the American League’s final Wild Card spot with six weeks to play.
Hill would be eligible for postseason play if the Sox qualify (assuming the contract is finalized shortly). That’s true regardless of whether he’s on the MLB roster by the end of the month. A player only needs to be in the organization at the start of September — not on the 40-man roster — to be eligible for the playoffs. The league office routinely allows players who were on minor league deals at the start of September to qualify for the playoffs as substitutes for another injured player.
