Brewers Among 3 Teams Showing “Significant Interest” In Rich Hill

The stove is heating up in Milwaukee as the Brewers are rumored to be strongly pursuing Rich Hill after they recently agreed to a deal with infielder Kolten Wong.

The soon-to-be 41 year old southpaw is being heavily considered by the Brewers, Mets and Rays according to WEEI’s Rob Bradford. New York and Tampa Bay have already signed two starting pitchers each so far in free agency while Milwaukee has yet to strike a deal with a starting pitcher on the market.

This news kind of got lost in the luster of the Wong news, but it still is a significant story.

The Brewers former veteran starter, Brett Anderson, is still on the free agent market and the Crew could use an experienced arm to help lead a very young pitching staff and Rich Hill could bring that this year.

With the uncertainty towards the back end of the Brewers rotation, a deal like this would make perfect sense. There was some speculation on Hill being a good fit with the Crew and now rumors are gaining traction.

Just a few days ago, we looked at Hill as being a possible free agent target.

With both of the other teams showing significant interest already signing other veterans to their rotation, the Brewers speculatively appear to be a good spot to land the veteran starter. Time will tell if they actually land him though.

Hill was on a podcast earlier in the offseason and had this to say about his free agency – “A lot of things that are going to go into the decision of where we’re going to sign this year I think one of them, and one of the big ones, is winning. Understanding that is first and foremost. Also, location. For my family and being able to see the games and have our son around. Just being a part of it is very important.”

When Josh Lindblom was on the Cold Brew Podcast recently, he talked about how Milwaukee felt like home and the people and the city were welcoming and comforting and that the city is a sneaky good destination for free agents. Given Hill’s comments, Milwaukee certainly seems to fit his criteria.

He had an impressive 2020 campaign with a 3.03 ERA, 1.164 WHIP, and 31/17 K/BB ratio over 38 2/3 innings (eight starts) with the Minnesota Twins.

Despite his age, Hill has still been performing well late in his career and that’s an encouraging sign. He’s likely to be in the market for a one year contract, which is something that would appear to be enticing for the Brewers as they are showing significant interest in the veteran southpaw.

If he can keep up similar production to last season, a signing like this could propel the Brewers towards the top of the league in terms of starting pitching.