KC Royals signed a wild card free agent pitcher (and it's tough to see the vision)

Who had Rich Hill signing with an MLB team in 2025 on their bingo card? Kansas City Royals fans likely didn't, but that's the situation they found themselves in on Tuesday afternoon after the team announced they'd inked the 45-year-old journeyman to a minor league contract.

At first glance, this is a shocking move regardless of the team, but the deeper you look into the Royals situation in particular, the vision of how the veteran starter fits in their master plan is difficult to see - and that's if there even is one.

It's tough to see how Rich Hill fits into the KC Royals organization

Just looking at the Rich Hill side of things, he's proven in recent years why it's hard to find many 40-year-old arms still kicking around MLB in general - let alone successful ones. The last time the southpaw threw to a respectable sub-4.00 ERA was in 2021. And his past two seasons have seen him produce some pretty uninspiring overall big league performances - with a 5.41 ERA in 146 1/3 innings between the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres in 2023 and a 4.91 ERA in just 3 2/3 innings with the Boston Red Sox in 2024.

Looking at his most recent taste of big league action, his fastball velocity sat at just 86.2 mph, with a 7.18 xERA and a .266 xBA. And what's even more concerning is that he only threw in a combined 5 2/3 innings of affiliated ball between Boston and Triple-A Worcester last season.

Then there's the Royals point of view, and a veteran starter wasn't the most pressing of needs if you can even consider it a need at all.

Kansas City's big league rotation has been untouchable for a majority of the season so far. The likes of Kyle Wright and Alec Marsh should likely play a role at some point this season, so long as no major setbacks happen in their respective recoveries. Then there are plenty of standouts elsewhere on the 40-man roster that would have (or already have had) more of an impact at the major league level than Hill likely would.

Noah Cameron has thrown to an impressive 3.31 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and .207 BAA in 32 2/3 innings in Omaha. And who could forget when he carried a no hitter into the seventh inning in his MLB debut
on April 30. Then there's his fellow Storm Chasers teammate and 40-man roster member in Luinder Avila, who boasts a respectable 4.11 ERA and a strong 1.09 WHIP and .203 BAA in 35 innings of work.

While Chandler Champlain and Thomas Hatch haven't been anything special whatsoever in Omaha's staff this season, is a 45-year-old Rich Hill going to be any better? Perhaps he'll act as a replacement for Tyson Guerrero, after he was placed on the season-ending IL last month. But is Hill worthy of the Triple-A rotation spot over a younger arm still in the development process?

And with the results he has paired with a mid-80s fastball, it's also hard to see a path to meaningful innings as a reliever. After all, the role of struggling veteran in the bullpen is already taken in Kansas City with Chris Stratton still kicking around.

If Hill were to somehow defy the odds and make it to the majors with the Royals in 2025, the fact it would be his 14th MLB franchise would undoubtedly be a cool storyline, but at this point that seems like the only pro to take out of this signing, and that shouldn't make it worth it by any means.