Rich Hill has enjoyed his 17-year major league career, even as it's taken him to 11 different teams, and included more than few injury-related pit stops.
He's looking forward to his 18th big league season, too, this one with his hometown Red Sox. But before that can happen, MLB and the MLB Players Association have to come to a new collective bargaining agreement and the current lockout -- the first work stoppage of Hill's career -- needs to come to an end.
Until then, Hill continues his daily workout and throwing programs, eager to head to Fort Myers, but willing to wait until an equitable deal can be reached.
When Hill, a native of Milton who still lives nearby in the offseason, travels throughout the Boston area, he hears frustration on the part of family, friends and strangers. Hill joins in their frustration.
"Fans want to see a good product on the field, what they're paying a ticket for,'' said Hill. "But we're in a situation where teams get this revenue money, shared throughout the league, but they're not spending it on players and trying to get better. The fans are paying their hard-earned money to go see a major league product and they're not getting that in some cases now. That's not ideal for the industry and it's not fair to the fans.
"I go to Celtics games, I go to Bruins games in the offseason. I enjoy sports, I enjoy theater. So when you pay for Broadway prices, I want to see a Broadway show. I want to sit there and say, 'Wow, that was awesome. I'm blown away by whatever that individual talent is,' and you see it all come together for everybody. That's the biggest issue that I see -- the tanking needs to be addressed throughout the league. And that comes from the owners.''
As a professional athlete, Hill is naturally competitive. He has a hard time understanding why an owner would buy a team and not do everything in his/her power to try to win.
"It makes no sense to punt every year,'' he said. "Why are you going to punt? Don't own the team. You have the money -- go invest that money somewhere else, if you don't want to put the best product on the field. Because there's a lot more at stake than just a stock price, going up and down. My own personal objective is to give my best effort every time I go out there on the field. It's the old Joe DiMaggio quote: 'This might be the first or last time someone gets a chance to see me play.' That's extremely important for a lot of guys. I know it's non-negotiable for me. Whatever the end result is, good or bad, or in the won-loss column, you're going to get the best that I have that day.''
Hill also acknowledges that, more often than not, fans tend to side with ownership in these disputes. It's difficult for fans to feel sympathy for players earning an average salary of $4.17 million -- though the mean salary is a far lower $1.1 million -- and that's reflected in the public sentiment.
But Hill points out that the current work stoppage is the result of the owners' decision to lock out the players - literally the first minute they could, as the clock struck midnight on Dec. 2.
"This is not a strike by the players; it's a lockout by the owners,'' Hill said. "There was a proposal by the players, and it took 45 days to get to the table. And MLB refused to counter the players' last proposal (last week) and instead sought a federal mediator. You have to ask, why? That was an effort to put public pressure on the players. And for us to agree to a CBA that's similar to the one that exists benefits (owners).
"I'm in the common sense club and there is a reasonable solution to all of this.''
Like many current players, Hill is angered by the words and deeds of commissioner Rob Manfred.
"What has he done to show the fans that he loves baseball?'' asked Hill. "When he comes out and calls the World Series trophy 'a piece of metal,'' (as Manfred did in 2020), it's disheartening, it's vile, it's objectively disgusting. You lost me. Look what's happening with the NBA, where the players and the league get along. Basketball is flourishing. And I'm actually enjoying the league more now, with the league and the players working together as opposed to butting heads all the time.
"It's so frustrating to see him reducing the draft, cutting the number of minor league teams. Why, so you can save a few bucks? But It's not about saving the money; it's about killing the game. Ten years from now, we'll say, 'Jeez, what happened to baseball?' You don't see it in the present. This is something that's going to affect the game a decade from now. That's where I have a problem with these things.
"Fans can see through it. They can see through all this stuff that Manfred is doing, and not really promoting the game of baseball. Are we trying to promote the game and how much fun it is and enhancing the fan experience?''
Hill will turn 42 next month and will be one of the game's oldest players when the 2022 season gets underway. In all likelihood, Hill won't benefit much from gains made by a new CBA. But he still cares about the game and its future.
"I want it to be done right,'' Hill said. "It's going to impact the health of the game moving forward. I know I'm at the 18th hole of my career, and I want to leave with the game better off than it was when we arrived. And I can't say that's necessarily going to be the case. I feel like the game is great, but the business of the game is....difficult. It's a difficult business. I hope that we come to some common-sense decisions.''
