House That Hank Built
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Atlanta Braves Continuing to Check on Infielders

By Alan Carpenter

Sep 6, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Twins first baseman Trevor Plouffe (24) blows a bubble as he walks back to the dugout in the fifth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Target Field. The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 10-3. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 6, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Twins first baseman Trevor Plouffe (24) blows a bubble as he walks back to the dugout in the fifth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Target Field. The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 10-3. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jul 5, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Aaron Hill (9) hits an RBI single against the Washington Nationals during the third inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 5, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Aaron Hill (9) hits an RBI single against the Washington Nationals during the third inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports /

Aaron Hill

Please excuse me for a bit as I get my dander up just a bit here.

This is a reported rumor told via Connor Byrne at MLB Trade Rumors.  Here’s what he said:

"Free agent second baseman/third baseman Aaron Hill is on the radar of a few teams, including the Braves and Royals."

Okay… that’s not enough – let’s dig deeper.  MLB Daily Dish (Scott Gelman) reported the same thing:

"The Royals and Braves are among the teams interested in free agent infielder Aaron Hill, according to Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe."

In the meantime, I had located Cafardo’s original missive, and checked out what he actually said.  Here it is, in total context:

"8. Aaron Hill, INF, free agent — Hill, who was well-received by the Red Sox last season after he was acquired from the Brewers, has yet to surface with another team. But a few teams are in the market for a utility infielder, including the Braves and Royals. Hill hit only .218 with the Red Sox, but hit well for the Brewers (.283)."

That’s… not actually expressing interest.  That’s not really even speculation on the part of Cafardo.  Instead, he’s merely pointing out that The Braves and Royals have been in the market for players like Hill, but nothing whatsoever about whether they’d actually like to have Hill on their teams.

People!  Words mean things!  And these words don’t mean what you think they meant!

Of all the sources (four) I checked that quoted the Globe story, Rotoworld.com was the only site that quoted the story technically correctly.

"Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe named the Braves and Royals as two teams who could have interest in free agent Aaron Hill."

…But even this kinda teases the subject a bit more than the Globe stated.

So there’s a bunch of wasted words on … literally nothing.  There’s no “there” there.  And yet, this will be reported in other media outlets in the same way this week.

Maybe I’m a little too sensitive here, but it’s hard enough to see some of these rumors through – even when they’re real rumors.  I’d rather not make up new ones just to fill space.

While I don’t believe that was the intent here, it still smacks of wasted effort.

Could the Braves be interested?  Yeah, it’s true – they might.  But whether they are is something that no reporter seems to have actually checked up on at this point.  So let’s set this one aside for a while.

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