I came across a familiar name while perusing MLBtraderumors.com the other day. The Baltimore Orioles outrighted our old friend Rich Hill off of their 40-man roster following a season where he was sidelined by a shoulder injury. The decision to release Hill isn't surprising: he started 13 games for the Orioles in 2009 and posted an ERA of 7.80 and WHIP of 1.873. The walk troubles that made Lou's stomach turn and ultimately led to his end as a Cub didn't improve as his BB/9 was 6.2. No Cub pitcher (maybe ever) will bring up feelings of "what if" more than Mark Prior, but when I think of Rich Hill that sentiment is there. Hill is a guy who went from:

• Untouchable prospect (2006 stats at Iowa: 7-1, 1.80 ERA, 12.2 SO/9, .830 WHIP)
• Solid rotation piece for many years to come (2007 with Cubs: 11-8, 3.92 ERA, 1.195 WHIP, 195 IP)
  
• Consummate pitcher that Lou can't stand (18 BB's in 19.2 IP in 2008)
• Traded for a PTBNL
  

The 2007 season Hill had should have given him a chance to compete for a job in 2009 despite his disastrous 2008 season. However, with the emergence of Ryan Dempster and acquisition of Rich Harden in 2008, banking on the chance could Hill fix the control (and supposedly psychological) issues he had in 2008 wasn't necessary. Still, it is very rare to see an organization completely give up on a 28-year old lefty who had put together a solid major league season as a starter. Hill is only 29, so there is the possibility a team will take a flyer on him with a minor league contract. We may not have seen the curtain close on his major league career, but here are the three things I remember most about Rich Hill's time with the Cubs.

1. Rich Hill almost single-handedly got the Cubs off to a good start in 2007. Over his first six starts he posted 1.73 ERA and pitched at least 7 innings in each game. Four out of those six games were against divisional opponents. If All-Star selections were made in April, Hill may have been the National League starter.

2. No Cub has ever endeared himself to Ozzie Guillen more than Rich Hill. The following is their quote exchange following the Michael Barret/AJ Pierzynski indecent in 2006, courtesy the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

Hill: "I think it was pretty gutless on their part--him hitting Michael when he didn't even have the ball," Hill said. "That's not how you play the game. If he had the ball and he hits him, that's fine, that's how you play it. But you don't go around just running over catchers. What if he injured him and he didn't have the ball? That's not the way you play the game. . . . It was pathetic."

Ozzie: "Tell that Triple-A [bleep] to shut the [bleep] up," Guillen said. "Tell him to start throwing some strikes or he's going to get Dusty fired."

Ozzie turned out to be right on both fronts, as Dusty did in fact get fired and Hill got sent to Iowa the day after. What a genius.

Finally, this song from the Mac, Jurko, and Harry show (when it existed in that form) is simply fantastic.

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