Rays Sign Rich Hill, Collin McHugh to One Year Deals

On Friday night, the Tampa Bay Rays signed Pitchers Collin McHugh and Rich Hill to one-year deals.

McHugh’s deal is worth $1.8M, while Hill’s deal is worth $2.5M.

Collin McHugh

Collin McHugh, 33, has been a starter and reliever in the MLB for 8 seasons, posting a career 58-43 record and 3.95 ERA with the Mets, Rockies, and Astros. McHugh posted a 4.70 ERA in 2019 with the Astros, before entering Free Agency. In Free Agency (2020), McHugh signed with the Red Sox, but didn’t play after opting out.

Rich Hill

Rich Hill, 40, has been in the majors since 2005. But he’s only pitched over 100 innings in a season just four times, and over 135 innings once, which was in 2007. Hill has bounced around a lot of teams. He’s played for six MLB teams, including the Cubs, Orioles, Red Sox, Indians, Dodgers, and Twins. While on the Red Sox, Hill received the Tony Conigliaro Award, given to a player who best overcomes an obstacle and adversity through the attributes of spirit, determination and courage.

Hill, who possesses a career 3.79 ERA, has pitched under 30 innings, 7 out of the 15 years he’s played. He did relatively well in 2020 with the Minnesota Twins, posting a 3.08 ERA in 38.2 innings pitched. Although he has a low inning total, he has only had an ERA of above 5.00 two times, in which both were under 40 innings pitched.

Unlike McHugh, with Hill you know what you’re getting; Reliable pitching with low stamina, as the veteran enters his 16th season in the big leagues.

Final Thoughts

Both of these additions will provide great depth for the Rays rotation. While not the two best pitchers, it’s definitely still two great pickups by the Rays, a team that’s known for making good pitching signings.

Hill and McHugh join Hunter Strickland and Chris Archer, who were also signed recently by the Rays.

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