Hill and Lind this season

[Peteros]

Why are they struggling?? It puzzles me. Someone with any ideas as to why both of them are struggling this year, after a stellar season last year.

[Hoopstarr]

Lind is getting killed on the outer half, especially by lefties where his line is a filthy .102/.156/.119/.275. He does have a low Babip (batting average on balls in play) but I think that's because he's just sucking and not because of bad luck since his line drive rate is normal. All of his HRs are against righties this year. He had 7 against lefties last year. Cito and Murph need to work whatever magic they work on him because he's lost right now.

With Hill, aside from a predicted regression to the mean, his timing looks way off and he might be letting his emphasis on taking walks affect his hitting. Unlike with Lind, he actually has been extremely unlucky. His line drive rate is a ridiculously low 7.6% (the league average is around 19%) and thus he has an awful .176 Babip. He's swinging at too many pitches outside the zone, but also making contact on those, and I bet those are the swings that are leading to the weak lineouts.

[CapeCrusader]

Well hopefully they didn't catch the Hinske bug...where he did good his rookie season with us and after that was a complete crap shoot.

I think its that they played so well last year that they got other managers on notice and now its hard for them to adjust or change the way they swing the bat.

[OldNo7]

Hill is killing me in my keeper league right now. He needs to pick it up for that reason alone

[J-Roc]

I'm very concerned that Adam Lind was simply overrated. Last season was too much a fluke.

Aaron Hill has a swing like Paul Molitor used to have, which means he ought to be able to only swing at pitches in his wheelshouse. He just seems to have lost his eye.

[The_Hater]

There's the possibility that they both had career years last season but every player goes through slumps. If they both hit like this for the entire season, then maybe you get concerned. It only looks worse because it's happening simultaneously.

[rarefind]

i'll be worried about them if teixeira starts swinging the bat better but they continue to struggle. overbay also had enormous struggles and even he was able to get the bat going a few weeks ago now. it is kinda worrying knowing these guys are signed long term and have yet to contribute anything to this team. the injury to start the year obviously hurt hill, but lind does not have much of an excuse to this point. pitchers have clearly adjusted to him and he has not been able to attack the ball on the opposite side of the plate. however, the reassuring thing about both players is that it seems the problem is simply timing; not mechanics. funny how ownership called for rios' head last year when he struggled yet this year he may very well be an all star.

[number15]

They will come around. Last year was not a fluke, i mean they didint come out of nowhere. Hill was a good player even before that and Lind was great in the minnimum games he got...... last year just happened to be their breakout season

this is just a slump. Id be patient........ though maybe play them lower in the order untill they start to turn things around..... unlike how they r handing it on a plater to Overbay , lets bring up Brett Wallace already

[SargentBargs101]

lind and hill the wells and rios of last year... hill is basically trying to hit homeruns on every pitch and lind is trying to pull the ball to much which is not his game.

[luvtheteam]

I'm not crazy about the big contracts they gave these 2 kids when they are in their arbitration years. The best results come when the kids have to work each and every year for the best contract they can get. I had a bad feeling about those 2 this year when i heard about their new contracts. This was never done during the Gillick years to my recollection, and the young players just naturally got better and better each year.

AA will argue that these kids are professionals of high integrity and would not be effected by the contracts, but my instincts tell me different. I understand the organization was looking for cost certainty here, but in the end, it just doesn't work out as you expect.

I recall being very upset with JP in 2002 (i believe) when he gave Vernon Wells that huge contract before he needed to. I kind of felt at the time that Vernon was not the same player after that and was up and down. You want to keep that hunger alive in the kids as long as you can, and then lock them in long term towards the end of their Arbitration years.

I hope these 2 can turn it around. The talent is there, but you can tell, especially with Lind, that that 'intense hunger' is gone.

just my thoughts on it.

[OldNo7]

Hill signed his contract in April of 2008, so that throws your entire theory out the window because of the year he had last year being a year AFTER his "big contract". $12mil for4 years (or I think around $38 for 7 if all the options are picked up), not exactly a huge contract for what he brings/can bring to the table offensively and defensively. $3mil per year is actually a bargain at the start of the deal.

[luvtheteam]

Yeah ok...i guess i'd thought they both had signed this offseason. In any event, it's more noticeable with Lind as i'd noted. And Hill we know there has been an injury issue this year. Don't like the approach in principle.