Less than two weeks before the New York Yankees expect their pitchers and catchers to report to Tampa for spring training, they still do not have a left-handed reliever on their 40-man roster. This should have been one of the easiest moves the Yankees could make this offseason.
After rehabilitating Tim Hill's career last season, the side-arming lefty became a big part of the back of the Yankees bullpen. The 34-year-old is a free agent and the Yankees should have re-signed him by now.
There is "mutual interest" between the Yankees and lefty Tim Hill, Sports Illustrated's Pat Ragazzo reported.
So, what's the hold up? The Yankees need to get this done soon. They have also been linked to veteran left-handers Andrew Chafin and Brooks Raley in trade rumors.
But Hill makes the most sense.
Ragazzo also reported that the Yankees are competing for Hill with the New York Mets, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Colorado Rockies, and the Los Angeles Angels.
Hill, who will be 35 in February, had a solid year for the Yankees after being released by the White Sox last season. After struggling in Chicago, with a 5.87 ERA over 23 innings, Hill meshed with Yankees' pitching coach Matt Blake. He posted a 2.05 ERA and 1.02 WHIP across 44 innings in the regular season, earning Yankees manager Aaron Boone's trust and appearances in high-leverage situations.
Hill allowed just one earned run across 8.1 innings in the playoffs.
He fits well with Blake's philosophy of creating weak, poor-quality contact. They tweaked his sinker and asked Hill to use it more. The results were that last season, Hill was among the best in the majors at missing barrels (1.7%) and generating groundballs (68.1)%, according to Baseball Savant.
It was by far the best season of his career.
The Yankees have had much success building their bullpen with reclamation projects like Hill since they hired Blake in 2020. Now, they may be victims of that. Clearly, there is more interest in Hill because of his success last season, which could mean the Yankees have to pay more or lose out on Hill.
The Yankees need to reap the benefits of Blake's work on Hill and get a deal done with him before pitchers and catchers report to Tampa.
