Rich Hill Yet Again (and thoughts about prospects)

Anonymous really wants to get blood from his turnip.

Do you see (Rich) Hill being traded anywhere?

It's unlikely.

Hill is still struggling with his control, and would be a major work in progress. He's also not at a prospect age anymore (28), and the service time clock has already started ticking.

That being said, it's not completely out of the realm of possibility. One reason I'm sure Anonymous is asking this question is because some of the players who went to the A's for Rich Harden weren't exactly young. Matt Murton and Eric Patterson might work out for the A's, but they aren't at the point in the development curve where I'd expect major improvement. They look more like role players to me at this point than regulars, though that could certainly change on a team like the A's.

Many predicted this in the offseason, but the market for minor leaguers now isn't the same as it was this past winter. Dan Haren, Johan Santana, and Nick Swisher all fetched a greater return than C.C. Sabathia and Rich Harden did. Billy Beane didn't get stupider; the market simply adjusted to a couple of realities: cost control and the likelihood of retention.

Haren and Swisher are still locked in for a little while before they hit the open market, and the Mets knew that they'd have an excellent chance of signing Santana to a long term deal. The Brewers, on the other hand, know that there's a strong possibility that Sabathia's a three month rental, and the Cubs know that Harden's a calculated risk. The Cubs wanted Harden, but certainly weren't going to give up players on the caliber of Carlos Gomez or Carlos Gonzalez to get him.

With that in mind, we could see more trades like this between now and the MLB July 31 deadline. A.J. Burnett could move, but I see the Jays getting something in between what the Indians got for Sabathia and the A's got for Harden. Brian Roberts has another year before he hits the open market, but still won't quite garner the price that Haren did this winter.

Predicting all of this stuff is hard, but I'll probably take this fool's errand and try yet again this year.