Hill is signed for $12, $16m and $18m over the next three years with a $2m signing bonus. Hill, 37 next Spring, has had one of the most remarkable late-career renaissances in history, as he’s still just 18 months removed from pitching with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League. Hill parlayed a September roll of the dice by the Red Sox in 2015 into a one-year, $6MM deal with the A’s last offseason. For Hill, even last year’s $6MM represented a life-changing number, as he’d never earned more than $1MM in a single MLB season. Prior to this deal, Hill had earned just over $9MM in parts of 12 big league seasons, per Baseball Reference.
Two thoughts. One: congratulations, Rich Hill. Every guy toiling in the semipro leagues, grinding through their seventh rehab, just knowing if they can just get healthy it will all work out - here's your patron saint.
Second: Have the Dodgers lost their minds? $48,000,000 to a 37 year old who could only start 20x in 2016, his best health in over a decade? Wow. Just wow.
