Oakland A's free agent rumor: A's a favorite to sign Rich Hill

The Oakland Athletics are "one of the favorites at this point" to sign free agent left-handed starting pitcher Rich Hill, says Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish, citing an "executive involved in bidding" for the pitcher. Hill enjoyed what Dave Cameron of FanGraphs styled "a 29 inning stretch of Kershawian performance" in making four starts for the Boston Red Sox, striking out 36 and walking five along the way (including three 10 K games, one of them a complete game).

To recap: Rich Hill is close to signing with multiple teams involved. TB, SD, OAK among them. OAK may be one of favorites.

— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) November 18, 2015

One of the things Dave Cameron noted in ranking Rich Hill the fourth-best bargain in the free agent class is that "hitters made contact on only 75% of their swings at his pitches in the strike zone, which is the kind of number that tends to identify skill more quickly than a lot of others."

I wouldn't expect that Hill will be looking at anything like a multi-year deal, with the FanGraphs crowd estimate he'd earn $6 million and Cameron suggesting $7 million.