hill to be skipped; injured in 5/16 AAA start

[abuck1220]

Hill has always struggled with walks

 

no, he hasn't.

 

 

i don't think there's any doubt that he's out of the rotation...90% sure of that. and i'd say there's a very good chance he goes to AAA.

 

he should have been left in for at least one more batter tonight. that's four starts in a row that lou has had a remarkably short leash on hill. it's as if it's 2005 and hill has never had success before.

[CUBZ99]

Hill has always struggled with walks

 

no, he hasn't.

 

 

i don't think there's any doubt that he's out of the rotation...90% sure of that. and i'd say there's a very good chance he goes to AAA.

 

he should have been left in for at least one more batter tonight. that's four starts in a row that lou has had a remarkably short leash on hill. it's as if it's 2005 and hill has never had success before.

 

One more batter and the game might have been over in the first inning. Hill was terrible tonight. It is frustrating to see him struggle this bad to start the season. He was the one pitcher coming into this year that had the potential to be the good #2 starter on the staff.

 

I agree with you that he is no longer in the rotation though.

[abuck1220]

Hill has always struggled with walks

 

no, he hasn't.

 

 

i don't think there's any doubt that he's out of the rotation...90% sure of that. and i'd say there's a very good chance he goes to AAA.

 

he should have been left in for at least one more batter tonight. that's four starts in a row that lou has had a remarkably short leash on hill. it's as if it's 2005 and hill has never had success before.

 

One more batter and the game might have been over in the first inning.

 

the worst that would have happened is another walk and one more run. as it is, they lost anyway, ruined the bullpen in the process, and likely completely demoralized hill. leaving him for at least one more batter would have been the right thing to do.

[CubColtPacer]

Hill has always struggled with walks

 

no, he hasn't.

 

 

i don't think there's any doubt that he's out of the rotation...90% sure of that. and i'd say there's a very good chance he goes to AAA.

 

he should have been left in for at least one more batter tonight. that's four starts in a row that lou has had a remarkably short leash on hill. it's as if it's 2005 and hill has never had success before.

 

One more batter and the game might have been over in the first inning.

 

the worst that would have happened is another walk and one more run. as it is, they lost anyway, ruined the bullpen in the process, and likely completely demoralized hill. leaving him for at least one more batter would have been the right thing to do.

 

I would tend to agree with that. At least let him start the next batter. If he gets to 2-0, maybe you pull him. But the next batter was Izturis, and he cannot hurt you that badly, and also has been known to swing early in some situations. So maybe you get a lucky ground ball on a pitch just off the corner and get out of the inning. I still doubt Hill would make it more than into getting into the 4th tonight, but even those couple of innings might have made a big difference for his confidence level and for how much the bullpen was used.

[Laura]

Hill needs to pitch in order to locate. Even if they're working with him in side sessions, he needs to pitch in game situations. Lou has to gird up his loins and be committed to sending Hill out there, bouncy pitches in the first inning and all, for a game. There's no way to convince anyone that pulling him in the first inning does any good other than embarrassing him. Not a good coaching technique.

 

Those of you who favor him being yanked from the rotation -- how do you reconfigure the pitching? I'm curious.

[VanceJergins]

Yost and Lou both seem determined to ruin their #2 pitchers. It will be exciting to see who wins the race to throw away the division.

[CubColtPacer]

With this quote, I would say it's a definite that Hill is gone:

 

"Hill can't start like this in the big leagues -- c'mon," Piniella said. "Every time he pitches, it's an adventure. He's doing his best, but we have no bullpen. I don't know what the solution is, but I can't start him any more until this thing gets taken care of."

 

First off, Piniella is part of the problem for there being no bullpen because of his short leash on Hill the last 3 games. At the same time, they need to do whatever they can to get his mechanics straight, because with his current control he'll continue to need an abnormal number of balls in play to be caught in order to be effective, and this is not a situation where Rich can just flip a switch and have control again.

 

What's very interesting is that Cubs.com said that Piniella hinted that it would be Marshall replacing Hill, with Eyre moving into Marshall's spot. I'd really like to know how they're going to stretch Marshall out quickly.

[sneakypower]

Lou has a pitching version of Felix Pie he's determined to screw up

[Flames24Rulz]

The most frustrating thing about this whole thing is that Lou would never have taken out Lilly or Marquis if they walked four guys in an inning.

 

Hill's a better pitcher than Lilly and Marquis and he's going to find himself out of a pretty bad rotation. That hurts.

[CubColtPacer]

The most frustrating thing about this whole thing is that Lou would never have taken out Lilly or Marquis if they walked four guys in an inning.

 

Hill's a better pitcher than Lilly and Marquis and he's going to find himself out of a pretty bad rotation. That hurts.

 

The way Lou handled Marquis at times last year, if Marquis had been walking guys at a pretty high rate for a couple weeks and had walked 4 guys in the first inning, Lou probably would have pulled him. I would agree with you that Lilly probably gets the chance to work out of it.

[TakeMeOutToTheBallGame]

What's very interesting is that Cubs.com said that Piniella hinted that it would be Marshall replacing Hill, with Eyre moving into Marshall's spot. I'd really like to know how they're going to stretch Marshall out quickly.

 

Well if Marshall is taking Hill's spot how stretched out does he have to be?

[questionmarkgrace]

Lou has done nothing to "ruin" his number two starter. hill has pitched like straight crap cut and dry. Its hard for me to understand that anyone can see it different because the guy hasnt been able to get the ball over the plate since day one of spring training. the problem is that you guys have put hill on a pedestal he does not belong on. Ive said it all along he cannot get by as a mlb starter with one good pitch, his fastball is mediocre, and his change non existant. Combine that with his consistent lack of controll and you have one very ineffective pitcher.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Hill can't continue to pitch like this, and if going to Iowa for a couple turns is what's necessary for him to get right, then that needs to happen. However, ignoring the organization's treatment of him as a possible cause for this Ankieldom would be foolish. They tried changing what works, a dumb dumb dumb thing considering Hill used to be Rick Vaughn before they straightened him out, sees a sport psychologist(aka if you don't need to fix him, then don't poke the bear), and there's no benefit to be gained from the tinkering(Hill already had a deceptive delivery, great peripherals, and has zero injury history).

[Tyrant]

Does anyone think it's possible that maybe Lou Piniella and the other coaches (you know, those who are actually around Rich Hill every day) know something that all of us don't? They've got an up close look at his mechanics, his demeanor, etc.

 

I don't think they're yanking him around just because they think it's fun.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Does anyone think it's possible that maybe Lou Piniella and the other coaches (you know, those who are actually around Rich Hill every day) know something that all of us don't?

 

Yes. And I think their belief in that knowledge causes them to win fewer games than if they just knew what we know.

[Tyrant]

Does anyone think it's possible that maybe Lou Piniella and the other coaches (you know, those who are actually around Rich Hill every day) know something that all of us don't?

 

Yes. And I think their belief in that knowledge causes them to win fewer games than if they just knew what we know.

 

Haha.

[C.C.]

Does anyone think it's possible that maybe Lou Piniella and the other coaches (you know, those who are actually around Rich Hill every day) know something that all of us don't? They've got an up close look at his mechanics, his demeanor, etc.

 

I don't think they're yanking him around just because they think it's fun.

 

 

What I find interesting is Dusty and now Lou has handled him the same.

[Derwood]

i can't wait until Hendry trades Hill, Pie and Murton for a 37 year old closer or 4th starter

[Mizzou]

Does anyone think it's possible that maybe Lou Piniella and the other coaches (you know, those who are actually around Rich Hill every day) know something that all of us don't?

 

Yes. And I think their belief in that knowledge causes them to win fewer games than if they just knew what we know.

Awesome.

[CubColtPacer]

Hill can't continue to pitch like this, and if going to Iowa for a couple turns is what's necessary for him to get right, then that needs to happen. However, ignoring the organization's treatment of him as a possible cause for this Ankieldom would be foolish. They tried changing what works, a dumb dumb dumb thing considering Hill used to be Rick Vaughn before they straightened him out, sees a sport psychologist(aka if you don't need to fix him, then don't poke the bear), and there's no benefit to be gained from the tinkering(Hill already had a deceptive delivery, great peripherals, and has zero injury history).

 

Agreed. If you're going to put blame on the Cubs, they deserve it for trying to change his delivery slightly to make him quicker to home plate. It's silly to do that for any effective pitcher, and it's really silly to do that for a player like Hill. They basically washed away any confidence he had in his old delivery, and it's hard to return to it now after trying to practice the new one. Hill was always wild in big part because he had good stuff, and it's sometimes hard to locate it. Now he's wild IMO because his body isn't throwing consistently the same way. Each pitch is an adventure because he has no confidence in any delivery right now, and so he combines a bunch of different elements from different methods, which doesn't work.

 

Note: In no way am I calling Rich Hill soft in this previous paragraph. It's human nature that when you try to change something that you have done for years, your body still wants to repeat what it has consistently done. Then if you don't have initial success with the new method, you start to wonder, and even if you're continuing to try the new method parts of the old method sneak in, which makes things even worse. It happens a lot to professional golfers who try to overhaul their swing.

 

They need to completely forget about the new delivery, have him watch some video of the old delivery, and then send him down to the minors and just tell him to focus on repeating his mechanics and that performance doesn't matter, that he'll stay in pretty much no matter what until his pitch count is reached. Do that, and a couple of weeks from now I think Hill would be ready to go.

[Keener98]

Lous pissed about having a short bullpen but yet in a game he brings the bullpen in in the 1st inning he lets a guy who throughout his career has been a starter, pitch to only 1 batter. Ha Lou you crack me up

[SouthSideRyan]

Does anyone think it's possible that maybe Lou Piniella and the other coaches (you know, those who are actually around Rich Hill every day) know something that all of us don't? They've got an up close look at his mechanics, his demeanor, etc.

 

I don't think they're yanking him around just because they think it's fun.

 

 

What I find interesting is Dusty and now Lou has handled him the same.

 

It's not a coincidence. Only Lou's a bigger douchebag, and Dusty was a bigger tactical buffoon.

[Tyrant]

Does anyone think it's possible that maybe Lou Piniella and the other coaches (you know, those who are actually around Rich Hill every day) know something that all of us don't? They've got an up close look at his mechanics, his demeanor, etc.

 

I don't think they're yanking him around just because they think it's fun.

 

 

What I find interesting is Dusty and now Lou has handled him the same.

 

It's not a coincidence. Only Lou's a bigger douchebag, and Dusty was a bigger tactical buffoon.

 

Geez.

[Keener98]

Does anyone think it's possible that maybe Lou Piniella and the other coaches (you know, those who are actually around Rich Hill every day) know something that all of us don't? They've got an up close look at his mechanics, his demeanor, etc.

 

I don't think they're yanking him around just because they think it's fun.

 

 

What I find interesting is Dusty and now Lou has handled him the same.

 

It's not a coincidence. Only Lou's a bigger douchebag, and Dusty was a bigger tactical buffoon.

 

Geez.

 

SSR speaks the truth. Glad Im not the only one fed up with Lous handling of this team.

[CubinNY]

Does anyone think it's possible that maybe Lou Piniella and the other coaches (you know, those who are actually around Rich Hill every day) know something that all of us don't?

 

I'm real sick of reading that tired old argument. It's the same thing as Brenly last night admonishing sportswriters for asking Lou if he thought about taking Soriano out on Friday. Lou Peniella is a mortal not immortal.