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Oakland A’s injury: Top trade target Rich Hill scratched from start with blister

The Oakland A’s are taking no chances with the MLB trade deadline’s top pitcher.

hill with hats
Rich Hill, with the caps of some of his former teams.
Drawn by fatrolf

Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Rich Hill will not make Friday’s start against the Toronto Blue Jays (via Susan Slusser, San Francisco Chronicle) due to a blister. Daniel Mengden will start Friday, followed by Sonny Gray on Saturday. Hill could return on Sunday, but that has not been announced yet.

The obvious trade conspiracy theories have been bandied about on Twitter, but believe it or not pitchers get blisters without regard to their likelihood of being traded.

While it is possible that had Hill not been the subject of trade rumors, he might have pitched through it, it’s understandable that the A’s wouldn’t want to risk a longer-term problem that could affect what players the club could get in return. Less than three weeks to go!