Eric's Giants Blog

Searching for Bobby Hill

I recently had a lengthy conversation with some Giants fans about Bobby Hill, currently a utility infielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates. I'm a big fan of Hill - he does a lot of the things I appreciate in a player (well, mostly he gets on base and steals bases well enough not to cost his team more outs than those steals are worth), is young, is cheap and is undervalued by both his current and former teams. In my Plan B team, he's the starting second baseman for the Giants (traded straight up for Pedro Feliz). I don't understand why this guy has had the career that he's had so far. I think he's been very unlucky and is currently underappreciated. It is from such situations that a profit of wins can be obtained.

Hill just tuned 26 on April 3. He was drafted by the Cubs in the second round of the 2000 draft to be their future at second base after an ugly contract holdout the previous year (the White Sox had drafted him, but Scott Boras had him hold out and go back into the draft - good job, bud). In 2002 he was supposed to start every day, but after 190 ABs that were nowhere near as bad as Don Baylor thought they were (Hill had a low batting average of .253 but his .327 / . 374 line wasn't so disastrously bad that the Cubs couldn't have waited it out), and Baylor benched him for Delino DeShields. DeShields got 163 ABs of .292 / .308 hitting before he himself was benched for the far superior Mark Bellhorn. Once Bellhorn started hitting, he never stopped, and Hill spent the rest of 2002 at AAA.

As recently as 2003 he was still viewed as the second baseman of the future for the Cubs, part of a youth movement that also included Corey Patterson and Hee Seop Choi, along with Mark Prior of course. And yet he broke camp in the minors again, after a poor spring defensively. The Cubs that year chose to go with Mark Grudzielanek who went on to have a career season and probably helped get the Cubs into the playoffs.

On August 16 the Cubs decided to call up some players from their AAA franchise in Pittsburgh, including a guy who was at one point considered likely to develop into one of the premiere third basemen in the game, Aramis Ramirez. Ramirez had an all-star season in 2001 (at age 23) but then had two off years in a row in 2002 and the first part of 2003 (only the first of which was really that bad) and at age 25 the Pirates decided to give up on him and send him to the Cubs. Part of what they got for him in return was Bobby Hill, who presumably had been somehow worked out of the Cubs' future.

And here's where I get confused. Hill came into spring training with the Pirates expected to win the second base job, as far as I can tell. He had an unbelievable spring training (he hit .339 with 5 home runs in 56 ABs and slugged .643) and yet ... isn't the starter. A younger prospect named Jose Castillo, who never played above AA before 2004, apparently beat Hill out by hitting a couple of home runs the first week or two of spring training and, presumably, with flashier glovework. So now Castillo plays second base, Chris Stynes plays third base and Bobby Hill is a backup, a situation which only gets worse when you realize that Freddy Sanchez (who's probably a better prospect than either Hill or Castillo) is coming back very soon from an injury. Playing time will be hard to come by for our hero.

And now Ray Durham is hurt. Not that I think the Giants are likely to contend in 2004 (I believe this position is well-established) but why not go get him now, put him at 2B while Ray is out and then use him as a sub at 2B and 3B (remember that he's traded for Pedro Feliz in my perfect world) until Ray can reestablish his health and then go assist the Twins in their attempt to win the AL Central this year? After that, Hill can take back over at 2B and learn to really hit major-league pitchers on the job in 2004.

This is a guy who just turned 26. He has 233 career major-league ABs and has put up a .262 / .344 / .365 line in those. At worst, he's Ramon Martinez (career .333 / .392 hitter) and at best he's a young Ray Durham (.353 / .431). He's hitting .306 with an OBP over .400 with the limited playing time being given to him by the Pirates this year. He makes $300,000 this year and won't be eligible for arbitration until (I believe) 2006, free agency in 2008. Around guys like this winning teams are built. Put enough Bobby Hills in your lineup (and by Bobby Hills I mean players who can put up league average or slightly above average performance (with the potential for growth into better players) for a low price) and you can go out and get one or two really expensive players who you know will perform at a very high level. Replace a Neifi ($3M), Tucker ($1.5) and Pierzynski ($3.5M) with three Bobby Hills of the appropriate defensive flavors and you suddently have $6M to play with. Combine that with the $1.5M the Giants pay JT Snow and you're looking at someone like Richie Sexson ($8.725M), Brian Giles ($8.5M), Derrek Lee ($6.15M) or Cliff Floyd ($6.5M). It's not just about spending money - it's about spending money well. $82M is plenty, if it's spent correctly.

By the way, for those who picked April 31 in your When Will Pedro Feliz' OBP Dip Below .300 pools, you got it right. Peter Happy currently sits at .290 / .296 / .406. An offensive juggernaut, to be sure.

posted by Eric @ 6:46 AM