It took a while, but the Twins have upgraded the starting rotation by signing right-hander Homer Bailey and left-hander Rich Hill.
Terms haven’t been released, but Twins communications director Dustin Morse tweeted that both pitchers signed for the 2020 season. Hill, expected to miss the start of the season as he recovers from an injury, will eventually help form a starting staff that features Jose Berrios, Jake Odorizzi, Michael Pineda and Bailey.
Bailey, 33, was traded by the Royals to the Athletics last season. In all, he tossed 163.1 innings in 31 starts with a 4.57 ERA. But he was a better with Oakland, owning a 4.30 ERA in 13 starts, including 68 strikeouts in 73.1 innings.
More importantly, he had a 3.65 FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) with the A’s. FIP is a fancy stat where when it is lower than a pitcher’s ERA, as is the case with Bailey, it indicates that the pitcher is getting bad luck on balls put in play.
There has been a ton of talk about Bailey being a potential underrated acquisition as his success in Oakland coincided with Bailey throwing his split-finger fastball more often. He used that pitch a career-high 26.4 percent and batters hit just .182 against it while swinging and missing 38.2 percent of the time.
Hill, who turns 40 Mar. 11, had a 2.60 ERA through 10 starts to start the 2019 season with the Dodgers before suffering a flexor tendon strain in his left elbow. He returned Sept. 12 only re-aggravate a knee injury.
Hill is expected to miss at least the first two months of the 2020 season. That, coupled with Pineda still owing 39 games on his suspension, the Twins still need to find solutions to fill voids early in the season.
On a side note, Hill and his wife, Caitlin, were arrested last week for disorderly conduct while trying to enter Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts before a Patriots-Bills game. According to NBC Sports, Caitlin repeatedly tried to enter the stadium with an oversized bag and refused to leave. Rich then tried to stop police from putting Caitlin inot a police vehicle for booking.
Both Rich and Caitlin had their charges dropped to civil infractions.
