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The Oakland Athletics put Rich Hill on the disabled list as he works to come back from blister issues. The move creates an active roster space for Saturday’s starter, Dillon Overton. Rich Hill’s DL stay can be backdated 10 days, so he will be eligible to be activated on Thursday, August 4.
Players on the disabled list can be traded, and I imagine scouts will be on hand to watch Rich Hill’s bullpen sessions between now and the Aug. 1 trade deadline. Hill will still be valuable as an ace pitcher even if he can’t start immediately, but the A’s will necessarily have to give up some value due to the risk of recurrence of the blister, not to mention that Hill has not pitcher more than 100 innings in a season since 2010.
Overton last started for the A’s on July 19, tossing a quality start of 6 1/3 innings and three runs allowed with six strikeouts and no walks. Overton has made one Triple-A start since then, allowing five runs in seven innings with eight strikeouts and no walks. Overton has not allowed a walk in his last 24 2/3 innings between Oakland and Nashville.
Update 2:45 p.m.
Rich Hill appears to be progressing towards starting on Thursday or Friday:
Melvin says Hill threw 60 pitches today in bullpen session, 15 without covering on finger. Targeted for Thurs or Fri start. (If not dealt)
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) July 30, 2016
