The Yankees announced that they have signed left-hander Tim Hill to a one-year deal. Fellow lefty Clayton Andrews has been designated for assignment in a corresponding 40-man move. Andrews was on optional assignment, so the club will still need to make a move to get Hill onto the active roster once he reports to the team. Jeff Passan of ESPN reported Hill’s impending signing on X prior to the official announcement. Hill was released by the White Sox earlier this week, meaning the Yanks will only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster.
Hill, 34, is a veteran ground ball pitcher who signed with the White Sox in the offseason. That one-year deal guaranteed him $1.8MM as the Sox were surely hoping to have him serve as a solid veteran presence in a relief corps that had been thinned out by trades.
But the topline results were poor, as Hill made 27 appearances for Chicago with a 5.87 earned run average. The Sox decided to move on, designating him for assignment last week. Since Hill had more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment while keeping his money, he was released and went to the open market.
Despite the poor ERA, there are reasons why the Yankees would still be intrigued. Hill has always been a ground ball guy, with a 60.5% rate of wormburners in his career. For context, the major league average is usually around 43% or so and is at 42.6% this season. Hill’s numbers in that department have actually been better than ever, as he has had 65.6% of balls in play go into the dirt while with the Sox.
But a lot of them were finding holes, as he has a massive .436 batting average on balls in play for the year. That’s well beyond his .310 career BABIP and this year’s .287 league average. That might have something to do with the poor defenders on the White Sox. That club has a collective -19 Outs Above Average on the year, which is better than just four other teams. Defensive Runs Saved is way more pessimistic, as the Sox are in dead last with a score of -49. The second-worst club by that metric is the Rays at -28.
Hill’s 11% strikeout rate is subpar but it’s understandable that the Yankees perhaps expect some better results going forward. If he can keep making opponents pound the ball into the ground but with some better defense and better luck, the ERA should come down. It’s for those reasons that his 3.45 FIP and 3.89 SIERA are far more attractive.
It’s a fairly low-risk gamble for the Yankees to take. Since the Sox released Hill, they remain on the hook for most of what’s left of his salary. The Yanks will pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Sox pay, and easily can move on at any point if it doesn’t work out.
As noted by Passan, the Yankees’ bullpen could use some help. They have had Scott Effross, Lou Trivino and Jonathan Loáisiga on the injured list for most or all of the season, while Nick Burdi and Ian Hamilton recently joined them. Last night, Gerrit Cole came off the injured list and tossed 62 pitches over four innings against the Orioles. The game eventually went to ten innings with the Yanks using six different relievers. They don’t have another off-day until Monday, so Hill will give the club a fresh arm for a fairly weary bullpen.
Andrews, 27, has only been a Yankee for a short time. He came up as a Brewers prospect but that club designated him for assignment in February. The Yankees acquired him in a small trade and then passed him through waivers in early April, though he was added back to the roster just over a month later.
In between those transactions, the lefty has made just one appearance at the big league level. Back on May 21, he was put into a game against the Mariners and then proceeded to allow a Luke Raley home run, hit Cal Raleigh with a pitch and strike out Mitch Haniger before being replaced.
He’s spent most of his time in Triple-A, tossing 24 2/3 innings with a 5.84 ERA. His 25.9% strikeout rate and 51.8% ground ball rate at that level are both strong but he’s also given out walks at an awful rate of 20.4%, as well as hitting two batters and throwing two wild pitches. That lack of control has been an issue for Andrews before and has likely contributed to bumping him off the Yankees’ roster.
They will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. Despite the wildness, some other club might be enticed by the strikeouts and ground balls like the Yankees were, especially since Andrews can still be optioned for the rest of this year and one more season. If he were passed through waivers unclaimed, he would have the right to elect free agency by virtue of his previous outright.
Now they need to sign Rich Hill.
Might be better off signing Benny Hill.
Uncle – Now that’s a name I hadn’t heard in a while, his show was hysterical.
How about Hank Hill? Do I look like I know what a xFIP is? I just want to throw a got dang fastball.
hole – If you weren’t my son, I’d hug you.
i miss that show
“Damnit Bobby”
This is odd. It’s usually the White Sox who pick up the garbage.
Cubs fans said that for years about Bobby Hill, until he was turned into Aramis Ramirez
I’d rather Faith Hill. As a Sox fan, I’d actually “respect” that uniform…
dewey – Ah jeez ….. then I’m going with Hank Hill.
Let’s bring back Calvin Hill. Great back from Yale who played for the Cowboys.
Now that theme from the show will be in my head all day..lol
If he succeeds the criticism he has recieved won’t be worth a Hill of beans.
It would be a steep Hill to climb, but maybe he can do it.
Dick Mountain!
So I guess that Tim isn’t over the Hill if he’s going to take the Hill for yet another team.
I was calling for this when I saw the White Sox we’re going to cut him. Since no one was interested in trading for him, he eventually fell right into the Yankee’s lap.
Another high ground ball guy who suffered with career very poor defense with the White Sox, Cubs and the Marlins leading to balls “finding holes” and high BA against and ERA was Chris Volstad
@GG2-I played against Volstad in high school, he was absolutely filthy. Although he didn’t have the greatest big league career, there’s a reason why he went 1st round out of HS. At 6’8 throwing low-mid 90’s, he was almost unhittable(and quite intimidating) for PBG HS.
Yeah I knew him in high school too he was a beast. Too bad his career suffered because he was stuck on terrible teams his entire time.
great – I have a cousin who pitched for Jupiter Community around that time, he’s still in The Show.
Royal Palm was much better just before then though. Another pitcher there and his catcher, another cousin, both played for my favorite big league team.
Matt Blake will have this guy’s ERA under 3 by the all-star break. Worst case scenario is he is The next Chasen Shreve.
As long as he doesn’t hang pitches over the plate with runners on base like Marinaccio I’m ok with it.
Matt Blake doesn’t need to do a thing. He is already good. He could get under 3. I go with 3 something because of the division and parks. But if you alter the pitch usage and with some luck he is capable of under 3. Only worries I have our health related.
Zero Financial risk move, with a professional risk if he doesn’t pitch well, games can get blown open in a hurry with a RP imploding.
His leash should be short until he proves worthy.
All very true, but I don’t think he will be any more of a risk than Clayton Andrews, Santana, or Tonkin. At least he has some real experience to rely on.
Hopefully Blake works his magic on Hill and we get a decent middle relief arm out of it!
The Yankees infield defense is much better then the White Sox Infield defense, this very well could be a case in which his results improve alot just due to better defense, even if Matt Blake changes nothing.
I might add that a ground ball pitcher, who doesn’t blaze 99mph heat in a bullpen mix with alot of heat could work.
Also excellent points! I think I’m buying this move.
Speaking of defense, how about that Volpe?! He has been incredible again. That play last night was awesome
I am sold on Volpe.
So many comparing him to Jeter, and hell, that is a really tall order.
I like his improvement offensively, a fun little on base streak, and his Defense has been consistently excellent regardless of his Bat.
I hope more Yankees Prospects get a chance to run with a position. We need it.
No magic to work on him. He is already good. A 3 something era as is. No fix needed. Bad team and bad luck and small sample size. His arm might be dead. Might be ready to fall off. But if he is healthy he is fine as is.
if blake can turn tonkin into a high-leverage reliever he can turn this guy into mariano
Mariano Duncan?
dasit!
Coming from a Padres fan, the possibility of Hill turning around those ERA numbers is real. Needs to find a way to strike out a few more guys, but his delivery is wild and throws hitters off. The best part is Tim Hill has lots of Dawg in him, you want this dude on your team. Half the time you can’t make out what pitches he is throwing, and mostly they all look the same. He doesn’t always know where it’s going, but he absolutely lets it eat every time with zero regard for the last one.
Agreed 99. Also a Padres fan, I think this will be a good signing for the Yanks.
Hope he’s still got something in the tank for the yanks, but personally, you gotta like this dude. He has Lynch Syndrome, which is a hereditary predisposition to colon cancer. He lost his father to cancer not too long ago, and then during spring training of 2015 he was diagnosed too, and half his colon was removed, and he underwent eight months of chemotherapy, before being cleared by his doctor in January 2016. With the Pads he was 2023 Clemente Award nominee, advocate for Rady Children’s Hospital and dedicated huge amount of his time to events, gatherings, along with meet and greets with kids.
I didn’t even know any of that when I posted. Quite an amazing guy. I hope he rights the ship baseball wise, he deserves it.
Maybe they should sign
Over The
They just put him on the 60 day IL.
easy to root for a guy drafted in the 32nd round from an obscure college. hoping he has some big moments in pinstripes
Good living there. Get released by the worst team in baseball, keep your salary, get signed by the best team.
Happy to see it. Tim Hill did a lot of great work for the Pads.
Must have a great agent.
I think Tim Hill is a very happy guy today!
Yankees sign over the hill dude until the next castaway pickup looks better
Imagine being dropped by the White Sox and picked up by the Yankees.
An old Wandy Peralta.
Cashman dumpster diving again.
Yes. And he does it so well.
Consider these lumps of coal he and Matt “The Pitch Whisperer” have been able to transform into diamonds:
Albert Abreu
Luke Weaver
Ian Hamilton
Michael Tonkin
Nick Burdi
Cody Poteet
The 4 dudes he turned into Juan Soto
I ? his arm health. Seems he should have received a better contract and or better option than the sox. No one wanted to claim him. Sox said they over used him. If his arm isn’t dead he should easily pitch to a 3 something era.
Gil and Hill looked great today. This new strategy of throwing at the other team has worked wonders.
Worked great for the O’s.
if there was ever a time, I would have wished the pen had run dry, it was right before they were ready to sign him.
The photo of him above was taken directly from an article in the journal _Nature_ proving that pitchers descended from birds