In its never-ending quest of trying to find some defense in centerfield, the Valencia front office made another move to add to its cast of hundreds so it feels like to the locals when it bought the rights to bring in Bob Hills for a sum of $2M.
As Hills packed his bags and was making his way through customs on his way to sunny California, the New Jersey native starting going through the list of additions made in the off-season.
Along with Hills himself, there are the two Rule 5 pickups, Billy Bonnar and Lenya Aderlov. Add in free agent minor league pickup Otis Kolokotronis and the earlier trade for Carlos Perez from the Montreal team and it makes either for a very interesting Spring Training or it makes just a big hodge-podge of 40/45 potential type guys that will just turn into a who's/who of mediocre BBA wannabe's.
Looking at the ratings, it seems that Hills has the best glove of the bunch by a slight margin but has the upper hand over the rest when it comes to getting on base and moving around the basepaths.
Hills hit for a .282 average in 213 at-bats for Vancouver last season with a .346 on-base percentage and 16 steals. He had a 2.9 zone rating in centerfield adding up to a 1.9 WAR.
With AAA outfielders Luis Vela and Julio Sanchez ready to move up, rumor has it that last year's rookie left-fielder, Bill Nesbitt, is on the trading block. Nesbitt hit .254/.298 with 18 homers and 75 RBI last season. The front office has delivered a "No Comment," response when asked about potentially dealing the former first rounder.