Hill made clear from the beginning of the 2023-24 offseason that his plan was to sign midseason. Doing so, he hoped, would keep his arm fresh down the stretch after he faded badly in 2023. More importantly, it would afford him more time to be at home early in the year with his family and to coach his son’s team. He wound up signing an incredible eighth contract with the Red Sox in August but pitched just 3 2/3 MLB frames before being designated for assignment and released.

As recently as 2022, Hill pitched a full season and was generally effective, despite that being his age-42 campaign. That year saw him make 26 starts, pitch 124 1/3 innings and notch a respectable 4.27 ERA with a 20.7% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate — despite averaging just 88.5 mph on his four-seamer. He was out to a solid start in 2023 with the Pirates, working to uncannily similar numbers through 13 starts (4.23 ERA, 21.5 K%, 7.4 BB%). Hill hit a wall at that point, however, and limped to a 6.57 ERA over his final 74 innings.

Hill hinted earlier this offseason that while he was still (at the time) undecided about pitching in 2025, if he did so it would likely again be on more of a full-season schedule. He’s also suggested he wouldn’t limit himself to pitching with teams near his Boston-area home. Only time will tell whether a club takes a look, but there’s little harm in what would surely be a minor league deal and non-roster invitation to camp.

As for Chavez, he’s coming off a much different year. Though he’s on the “wrong” side of 40, Chavez looked solid. In 63 1/3 innings for the Braves, he notched a sharp 3.13 ERA with a passable, albeit below-average 20.8% strikeout rate and a quality 7.2% walk rate. Chavez’s sinker sat at a career-low 90.7 mph, and his cutter lagged further behind at 88.5 mph on average. But the crafty right-hander nevertheless enjoyed plenty of success, due in no small part to solid command and a plethora of weak contact.

Atlanta generally used Chavez in low-leverage spots last year, but he was a member of the team’s setup core as recently as 2023, when he picked up 13 holds and regularly appeared in medium- and high-leverage situations over the life of 36 games.

Despite his age, Chavez has now turned in four straight seasons with a sub-4.00 ERA. His collective earned run average dating back to 2021 is a sparkling 2.91, and he’s logged at least average walk rates every year along the way, with the ’24 campaign being the only one of the four wherein his strikeout rate was below-average. Chavez has posted better-than-average grounder rates in each of the past two seasons, too.

Chavez seems to find his way back to the Braves every season. He signed a minor league deal with Atlanta in 2021, was selected to the major league roster in June and quickly emerged as a key bullpen piece. He inked a minor league deal with the Cubs in 2022, made the Opening Day roster with Chicago, and was traded to the Braves less than three weeks later in exchange for Sean Newcomb, who’d been designated for assignment. The Braves traded him to the Angels at that year’s deadline, but when the Angels placed Chavez on waivers late in August, there were the Braves to once again claim him back.

Chavez signed a minor league deal with Atlanta in November 2022 and spent most of the 2023 season on their roster. He inked a minor league deal with the White Sox last winter, was cut loose late in camp and, to the shock of no one, signed a minor league deal with the Braves. They selected him to the 40-man roster three days later.

Another minor league deal between Chavez and the Braves isn’t necessarily a foregone conclusion, but it sure wouldn’t come as much of a surprise, either. The fit is even more sensible with Atlanta already having lost right-hander Joe Jimenez to knee surgery that’ll probably wipe out his entire 2025 season.

A subsequent knee surgery ended Stratton’s season, and he was given a recovery timeline of 7-10 months.  In the very best-case scenario, Stratton would be able to return on Opening Day, but the longer end of that timeline would keep him out until the end of June.  A clearer return date might emerge once Stratton gets deeper into his rehab, which also might impact when the Pirates or any other team might ink him to a new contract.  Stratton has a 3.26 ERA over 49 2/3 career bullpen innings over the last two seasons with Pittsburgh, with an impressive 4.9% walk rate and excellent soft-contact numbers.

More notes on some other players on the open market….

• Chris Martin has suggested that 2025 will almost certainly be the final season of his career, and MassLive.com’s Sean McAdam believes Martin “likely looking to pitch closer to his Texas home.”  The 38-year-old Martin has spoken about his desire to spend more time with his growing family, so this could factor more into his decision-making process than necessarily chasing the biggest offers available.  Martin was born in Arlington and already pitched with his hometown Rangers during the 2017-18 seasons, and naturally the Astros would also be a logical destination if geography is Martin’s chief concern.  Martin figures to draw a lot of attention from teams all over the map, as he posted a 3.45 ERA and an elite 1.7% walk rate in 44 1/3 innings for the Red Sox in 2024.
• Speaking of pitching close to home, Rich Hill told MLB Network’s Jon Morosi (X link) that he is open to pitching anywhere as he weighs whether or not to return for a 21st Major League season.  Hill lives in the greater Boston area and he pitched for the Red Sox in 2024, though the locale didn’t directly factor into Hill’s decision to join the Sox for the fourth different time in his career.  Hill’s desire to coach his son’s Little League team did impact his strategy of waiting until the second half of the 2024 season to sign, as he only landed a minors deal with the Sox in August.  When discussing his future plans earlier this month, Hill hinted that he would likely pursue a full-season schedule this time, though he hadn’t yet decided if he was going to pitch into his age-45 campaign.
• Also from Morosi in another X entry, left-hander Enmanuel De Jesus is drawing interest from two unnamed Major League teams.  De Jesus posted a 3.68 ERA, 24.45% strikeout rate, and 6.04% walk rate over 171 1/3 innings with the KBO League’s Kiwoom Heroes in 2024, but the Heroes won’t be offering him a new contract for the coming KBO season.  The southpaw has a 4.01 ERA across 749 1/3 career innings and nine seasons in the affiliated minors, mostly with the Red Sox before pitching in the Giants organization in 2022 and the Marlins organization in 2023.  De Jesus’ only MLB experience came with Miami during that 2023 season, as he pitched 6 1/3 innings over two appearances and was hit hard for an 11.57 ERA.  While De Jesus worked more as a swingman in 2021-22, he has largely pitched as a starter throughout his career, including starting all 30 of his games with the Heroes.  A return to the KBO League with another team might be in the cards if De Jesus strictly wanted to start, or he could be open to a variety of roles if he is pursuing a path back to North American baseball.

“I obviously love the game of baseball, I love the work and competition or I wouldn’t be doing this,’’ Hill says to Bob Nightengale of USA Today. “But we’ll see what the future holds as far as playing. I’m not sure if this will be it or not. I think we’ll probably know in a month or so. I’d love to play another year and have an opportunity to get into the postseason and win a World Series. That’s everybody’s dream. I’ve been close a couple of times, but it’s not like anything I’ve experienced in the game. Playing in the postseason, there’s nothing like it. Nothing at all like it.’’

Despite that willingness to keep taking the mound, he also seems to be aware the opportunity might not come. “I know I can still provide innings,” he says. “But, if not, and that’s it, I can call it on my own terms, knowing I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of really cool experiences in this game.’’ If Hill doesn’t get the playing opportunity he’s looking for, Nightengale relays that Hill would be open to non-playing roles, perhaps in coaching or some other off-field position.

Hill is coming off an experimental 2024 season that didn’t go especially well. He tried to follow through on a creative plan wherein he would intentionally sit out the first half of the season. The idea was that he could spend time with his family and keep his arm fresh for a stretch run, then pick his landing spot based on how the season was playing out.

It was an unorthodox script but one with some thought behind it. Hill signed with the Pirates in 2023 and pitched decently, posting a 4.76 earned run average. But he then got flipped to the Padres before his results backed up and the club fell from contention. The idea behind his 2024 plan was that he would save his gas for later in the year, as opposed to running out in the late summer. He would also theoretically reduce his chances of playing out the final days of the season on a club out of the race.

Unfortunately, the theory turned out to be better than the praxis in this case. Hill followed through on his plan by keeping his arm ready on his own time. But then he settled for a minor league deal for the Red Sox, a fringe contender, in the middle of August. They did add him to their roster in late August but let him make just four relief appearances, in which he posted a 4.91 ERA, before designating him for assignment and then releasing him.

Presumably, Hill is considering a move back to a more traditional timeline for next year, since he says he’ll probably know “in a month or so” whether he’s coming back or not. The 2024 season doesn’t give him much to market to clubs, but he was a fine innings eater for the first half of 2023 and had an ERA around 4.00 in the two prior campaigns. He tossed 158 2/3 innings in 2022 with a 3.86 ERA and then a 4.27 ERA over 124 1/3 innings in 2023.

Given Hill’s age, it’s remarkable that continuing to pitch is even a consideration, but his career arc has rarely taken the obvious path. He had some early career success almost 20 years ago now, including throwing 195 innings in 2007 with a 3.92 ERA. But injuries and underperformance led to a decade of him toiling away without much to show for it. From 2008 to 2014, he was only able to throw 153 big league innings with a 5.41 ERA, bouncing around to various clubs.

But then he had an amazing career resurgence that started in 2015. He parlayed a strong showing with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League into a deal with the Red Sox. A tiny 1.55 ERA in four starts with Boston led to a $6MM guarantee on a one-year pact with the Athletics for 2016. He would post a 2.12 ERA that year between Oakland and the Dodgers, getting traded midseason. That led to a three-year, $48MM deal to return to Los Angeles, a contract that started in his age-37 season, an amazing time for a pitcher to get his big payday.

He gave the Dodgers 327 innings with a 3.30 ERA over the course of that deal. His time with the Dodgers was also when he got most of the postseason experience that he clearly treasures. He did toss three playoffs innings for the Cubs way back in 2007 but then 50 postseason frames for the Dodgers from 2016 to 2019. Unfortunately, a ring eluded him in that time. The Dodgers finally won it all in 2020, their first title since 1988, but Hill signed with the Twins that year.

The results haven’t been as good lately, but that’s not really too surprising, considering his age. Perhaps Hill can again defy the odds and engineer another comeback. If not, one of the more unique trajectories will finally wind down.

Boston designated the 44-year-old Hill for assignment on Friday when they promoted rookie righty Luis Guerrero. That ended his latest stint with the Sox after four big league appearances. Hill logged 3 2/3 innings of two-run ball. He struck out five of 15 batters faced while issuing a trio of walks. With his fastball sitting in the mid-80s, Hill leaned most frequently on a 70 MPH breaking ball in that limited sample.

Whether Hill signs with another team or sits out the rest of the season, he managed to get to the majors for a 20th straight year. This was the Massachusetts native’s eighth different stint with the Red Sox, including minor league deals, and his fourth separate appearance at the big league level in Boston. Hill deliberately waited until the tail end of the season to sign, inking a minor league contract with the Sox in mid-August. The team called him up ten days later.

MLB’s oldest active player now returns to the open market. If he signs anywhere for the stretch run, it’d be with a contender. Hill can’t play in the postseason but could potentially work in a swing role to help push a team to October. He reportedly drew interest from the Yankees, Dodgers and Twins when he was building up earlier in the summer.

All three of those teams occupy a playoff spot. New York holds a half-game lead on the Orioles in the AL East, while a slumping Minnesota team is trying to hang onto a 3.5-game edge on the American League’s final Wild Card spot. Los Angeles has all but wrapped up another NL West title, but they’re looking to lock down the top seed in the National League while dealing with a number of rotation injuries.

Hill, 44, returned to the majors after sitting out the first two-thirds of the season. He’d said dating back to early in the offseason that he planned to wait until midway through the 2024 campaign before pursuing a return, taking the downtime to be with his family and, ideally, then being fresher for the finish to the current season. Hill began the 2023 season as a solid innings eater at the back of the Pirates’ rotation but faded considerably following a trade to the Padres.

Last month, Hill showcased for big league clubs and drew a wide array of scouts. He said at the time he felt he was ready to throw five innings and jump right onto a big league mound. The grizzled southpaw signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox — incredibly, his eighth career free-agent deal with Boston — and was indeed up in the majors after just one Triple-A appearance, wherein he tossed a pair of shutout innings.

The Sox didn’t plug Hill into the rotation, instead opting to use him in the bullpen. His first two outings could scarcely have gone better. He tossed 2 2/3 perfect innings, fanning three opponents. Over his next two appearances, Hill was tagged for a combined two runs on a homer and three walks. He fanned another two batters along the way. Overall, Hill pitched just 3 2/3 innings during his latest Red Sox run, logging a 4.91 ERA with five strikeouts and three walks.

Now that Hill has been designated, he’ll head to waivers. He’d be ineligible for a new club’s playoff roster if he’s claimed, though it’s at least somewhat feasible that a postseason contender seeking some pitching depth could still make a low-risk pickup and plug him into one of the final spots on its staff. If not, Hill can head to Worcester to continue pitching in Triple-A or again become a free agent. It’s not entirely clear whether he’ll aim to continue pitching, and with his 45th birthday coming next March, it’s fair to wonder how long he intends to keep going. At the very least, Hill fanned one-third of the batters he faced during this brief Red Sox run (five of 15), so there’s some reason to believe he could still have a bit left in the tank.

Guerrero, 24, has had a nice season in Triple-A, pitching to a 3.31 with a huge 33.1% strikeout rate but also a bloated 13.4% walk rate in 54 1/3 innings. MLB.com ranks him 28th among Sox farmhands, touting a fastball that sits 96-98 mph and reaches 100 mph at times. He complements that pitch with a splitter and slider. Guerrero throws hard and misses bats in bunches, but like so many young flamethrowers, his effectiveness is undercut at times by shaky command. This year’s 13.4% walk rate for Guerrero is an exact match for his career rate across all minor league levels combined.

Hill, 44, is now poised to pitch in the 20th major league season of his career once activated. The veteran hurler reportedly turned down major league offers over the winter in order to take an unorthodox approach to continuing his career and sign with a club in need of pitching in the second half to contribute down the stretch. Boston gave him just that opportunity after losing recently-acquired veteran southpaw James Paxton to a calf strain that ended his regular season after just three starts with Boston. Thanks in part to that injury, Hill is now back in the majors with his hometown team for the fourth time in a lengthy career that’s seen him pitch for 13 of the league’s 30 clubs. The lefty first pitched for the Red Sox from 2010-12 before returning for one-year stints with the club in both 2015 (when he shared a clubhouse with current Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow) and 2022.

It’s not yet clear what the lefty’s role in Boston will be once added to the roster, though with a relatively full rotation that features Tanner Houck, Nick Pivetta, Kutter Crawford, Cooper Criswell, and Brayan Bello it seems most likely that Hill is ticketed for a multi-inning relief role. That’ll be a major change of pace for the lefty, who hasn’t pitched in relief on a regular basis since 2014 outside of a five-appearance stint with the Padres last year after he struggled badly as a member of the rotation in San Diego. Out of the rotation, Hill has largely been a run-of-the-mill back-end starter by the results in recent years, with a 4.38 ERA (96 ERA+) and 4.36 FIP to match in 468 innings of work since the start of the 2020 season.

That might not immediately make Hill seem like an appealing candidate for a relief role, particularly when considering that he averaged just 88.4 mph on his fastball last year. With that being said, it’s worth noting that Hill’s first exposure to a relief role in a decade last year actually went fairly well: he posted a 3.38 ERA in 10 2/3 innings down the stretch with the Padres, though a 19.1% strikeout rate against a 10.6% walk rate in that limited sample size left something to be desired. Hill’s lone appearance with the Triple-A WooSox in preparation for his return to the majors saw him start the game but pitch just two innings on 28 pitches where he allowed no hits and one walk against two strikeouts. If the veteran lefty can offer that sort of production out of the Boston bullpen on a semi-regular basis, he’d be a considerable upgrade over Brad Keller in a long relief role.

The Red Sox aren’t currently in the playoff picture as they currently sit five games back of the Twins for the third and final AL Wild Card spot. That being said, Hill will be eligible for the postseason in the event that Boston manages to sneak in with a strong final month of the regular season. That would’ve been true even if he didn’t have his contract selected before the start of September because the league routinely allows players on minor league deals to participate in the postseason as substitutes for injured players, but that exception won’t be necessary for Hill because he’s now poised to join the 40-man roster before September 1.

August 15: The Red Sox and Rich Hill are close to finalizing a minor league contract, reports Rob Bradford of WEEI (X link). It’d be his fourth separate stint in Boston if he gets to the big leagues by the end of the season. Including minor league deals, it’ll be his eighth contract with the organization.

Those have spanned multiple front offices going as far back as 2010. Hill is a Boston-area native who is clearly comfortable with the organization. Staying close to home is appealing. Hill waited to sign until this late in the season in large part so he could coach his son’s Little League team in Milton, Massachusetts this spring.

While he won’t step directly onto the Sox roster, Hill could make a few appearances with Triple-A Worcester to get into game shape. It’d be a surprise if the Red Sox don’t call him up at some point before season’s end. Hill reportedly drew attention from the Yankees, Dodgers and Twins, among others, during his recent throwing sessions.

Boston is a sensible fit beyond the geographical connection. The Red Sox went into deadline season with questions about their rotation depth. They brought in James Paxton in a trade with the Dodgers. He only made it through three starts before suffering a partially torn right calf that’ll probably end his season. That temporarily left the Sox with a four-man rotation of Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, Nick Pivetta and Tanner Houck. The Sox are planning to reinstate Cooper Criswell from the virus-related injured list to start tomorrow against the Orioles. He’s likely to step into the fifth starter role, but he’d been working in relief for a couple weeks before going on the shelf. The Red Sox may want to keep a close eye on his pitch counts.

From the start of the season, the Sox’s rotation depth has been one of their biggest questions. They lost Lucas Giolito before the year started. Garrett Whitlock went down in April with an oblique issue. He hurt his elbow while building back up and underwent season-ending surgery. Houck, Crawford, Pivetta and Criswell all stepped up as the Sox had a surprisingly strong rotation for the first few months. They’ve had a much tougher time of late.

Red Sox starters have a 5.28 earned run average since the All-Star Break, a better mark only than that of the Angels, White Sox, Rockies and Rangers. Crawford and Pivetta have gotten battered by the home run ball. Houck’s strikeout rate has fallen off a cliff as he’s gotten to a career-high workload. Only Bello has maintained or improved upon his early-season production.

Hill isn’t going to single-handedly salvage the group. The 44-year-old southpaw turned in solid back-of-the-results from 2021-22. He had a tougher time last year, allowing a 5.41 ERA through 146 1/3 innings. Much of that came in a dismal 10 outings for the Padres after they acquired him at the deadline. Hill had a more reasonable 4.76 ERA in 22 starts for the Pirates before the trade. The Sox will hope they get something closer to last year’s first half version without Hill needing to work a full season. If he gets to the majors, he could potentially work as a tandem starter with Criswell or push the righty back into a multi-inning relief capacity.

It has been an atypical situation. Hill has floated the possibility of a late-season signing for a few years but hadn’t committed to it until last offseason. MassLive’s Chris Cotillo writes that the 19-year veteran declined major league offers from Texas, Pittsburgh and Oakland over the winter. Beyond the family considerations, he pointed to the opportunity to ensure he was joining a team that had a chance to compete for a playoff position. Boston is 2.5 games behind the Royals for the American League’s final Wild Card spot with six weeks to play.

Hill would be eligible for postseason play if the Sox qualify (assuming the contract is finalized shortly). That’s true regardless of whether he’s on the MLB roster by the end of the month. A player only needs to be in the organization at the start of September — not on the 40-man roster — to be eligible for the playoffs. The league office routinely allows players who were on minor league deals at the start of September to qualify for the playoffs as substitutes for another injured player.

Image courtesy of USA Today.

Minnesota’s interest comes at a time when Joe Ryan was just diagnosed with a Grade 2 strain of the teres major muscle in his right shoulder that puts the remainder of his season in jeopardy. Ryan joined righty Chris Paddack on the 15-day IL earlier today, leaving Minnesota with an inexperienced group of options — Simeon Woods Richardson, David Festa, Louie Varland — behind veterans Pablo Lopez and Bailey Ober in the starting rotation.

Hill, 44, has said since last year that his plan for the 2024 season was to pitch — but only in the season’s second half. The southpaw signed a one-year deal with the Pirates in the 2022-23 offseason and pitched well early before beginning to show signs of fatigue. He still managed to eat up 146 1/3 innings between Pittsburgh and San Diego (who acquired him at last year’s trade deadline), but it was generally a tale of two seasons for Hill. The lefty notched a respectable 4.34 ERA and matching FIP through his first 15 starts, punching out 21.1% of his opponents against an 8.6% walk rate. In his final 63 1/3 innings, he was torched for a 6.82 ERA with a 17.7% strikeout rate, 9% walk rate and 1.71 HR/9.

Waiting until later in the season affords MLB’s elder statesmen some perks beyond potentially keeping him fresh. Most importantly, Hill has spoken on record before about the additional time he was able to spend with his family, coaching his son’s team (link via MLB.com’s Ian Browne). Signing in August also ensures that he’s able to land with a club that has a good shot at making the postseason.

Minnesota would fit that bill. The Twins have been in second place in the AL Central and holding onto an AL Wild Card spot for most of the season. At 63-50, the Twins are 3.5 games behind Cleveland in the division, but they’re also hosting the Guardians for a four-game set this weekend that would shake up the top of the division if Minnesota can manage a sweep. (They’re currently leading the Guards in Game 1 of today’s doubleheader.)

Hill is no stranger to the Twins organization, having pitched there during the shortened 2020 season. Injuries limited him to eight starts, but he posted a 3.03 ERA in 38 2/3 innings as a Twin and reached the postseason that year. Bradford spoke to a scout who was at Hill’s showcase this morning, noting that the lefty threw more than 100 pitches and looked “impressive” (X link). Hill himself tells Bradford that he believes he’s built up to the point where he’s ready to go throw five or six innings in a start right now (video link).

Hill isn’t the only reinforcement the Twins are pondering, though second alternative is nearly half Hill’s age. Top prospect Zebby Matthews has skyrocketed up prospect rankings this season on the back of a dominant showing in High-A and Double-A. He was recently bumped up to Triple-A St. Paul, and president of baseball operations Derek Falvey confirmed to the Twins beat that Matthews is under consideration for a promotion to the majors.

“I think Zebby’s definitely in the conversation,” Falvey said this afternoon (X link via KSTP’s Darren Wolfson). “Obviously, he’s pitched exceptionally well for the whole year all the way through levels he’s been at. He’s now at Triple-A and knocking on the door. With the injuries we have, he’s certainly in the conversation. As we think about the needs for next week, he’s certainly a name that we’re talking about.”

Matthews, the Twins’ eighth-round pick in 2022, already looks like a nice find for the organization. The right-hander posted sub-2.00 ERAs in both High-A and Double-A before his recent promotion to Triple-A. He’s had two solid starts and two rough starts at the top minor league level. Collectively, he’s posted a 2.60 ERA with an impressive 30.5% strikeout rate and a staggering 1.8% walk rate. Matthews has fanned a hefty 114 opponents and issued just seven walks all season.

Matthews has ridden that breakout season all the way to the No. 61 spot on Baseball America’s recent update to their top 100 prospects, where they note that Matthews has perhaps the best command in minor league baseball. The Athletic’s Keith Law ranks Matthews 60th in the sport, and MLB.com has him as their No. 100 prospect.

Falvey also added that the aforementioned Paddack is still expected back this season. He’s “tracking really well,” per the Twins’ baseball ops leader (X link via The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman) and could begin a throwing program in the near future. Paddack has had a Jekyll-and-Hyde season, at times looking dominant and others looking fatigued in his first full season back from the second Tommy John procedure of his career. He’s twice punched out 10 hitters in a game and allowed two or fewer runs in 10 of his 17 starts. However, he’s also had starts where he’s been rocked for seven runs and nine runs, leading to a 4.99 ERA on the season.

Paddack’s 88 1/3 innings this season are already more than his combined total from 2022-23 while he underwent and rehabbed from that Tommy John procedure. Nevertheless, the Twins plan to use him as a starter when he’s ready to return, per Falvey. There’s no clear timetable for that yet, but if he can begin a throwing progression soon, a return sometime next month seems feasible. Paddack last pitched on July 14 and has been out since with a forearm strain.

Hill is attempting a fairly unique mercenary mission this year, something that he’s had in mind for a while. Back in August of 2022, he told Rob Bradford of WEEI that he wanted to skip the first half of 2023 but then participate in the second half. The idea would allow him to both spend more time with his family, choose a team in playoff contention and also theoretically give him more firepower as he wouldn’t need to pace himself for the grind of a full season.

Though the idea was in his head over a year ago, he didn’t follow through on it in 2023. He signed with the Pirates on a one-year, $8MM deal, making 22 starts with a 4.76 earned run average. He got flipped to the Padres at the deadline but then both he and the club faltered. He got bumped to the bullpen and was even put on waivers at one point but went unclaimed. He ultimately recorded an 8.23 ERA in his ten outings with the Friars.

He has been more committed to the plan this year. In October of last year, he mentioned it to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune and hasn’t diverted since. In May of this year, he told Ian Browne of MLB.com that he had turned down offers from three clubs in the offseason but was still throwing to keep his midseason plan afloat. Last month, Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe reported that Hill was throwing from a mound and had interest from the Yankees and Dodgers.

It’s an intriguing experiment and the timing is also perhaps not a coincidence. With the trade deadline now in the rear-view mirror, teams are fairly hamstrung in how they can go about upgrading their rosters. There are still a few ways, as MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently laid out, but most of them involve making moves around the margins.

The recent trade deadline was often characterized by observers as having a lack of clear sellers, which seemingly led to high asking prices on the few players that were available. For clubs that balked at those prices, they may be intrigued by the opportunity to acquire Hill for nothing more than cash.

A source tells Murray that Hill isn’t even doing this for the money but more a desire to win. Hill has already banked over $75MM in earnings, per his Baseball Reference page, but doesn’t have a ring. He pitched in the postseason for the 2007 Cubs and then the Dodgers from 2016 to 2019, but he was with the Twins in 2020 when the Dodgers won the World Series.

Hill could potentially be an impact addition if the self-shortened season allows him to get back to his old self. He’s already had one of the more unique trajectories, as he debuted way back in 2005 and had one of his best seasons in 2007, tossing 195 innings for the Cubs with a 3.92 ERA.

But his results tapered off from there and he struggled to get a lengthy opportunity for almost a decade. From 2008 to 2015, he didn’t hit 60 innings pitched in any of those major league seasons due to a combination of injuries and underperformance. He came roaring back with the Dodgers in 2016, his age-36 season, and kicked off a remarkable second act. From that year and through 2020, he had a 3.01 ERA, 28.3% strikeout rate and 8.2% walk rate in 476 innings.

In 2021, his age-41 season, his ERA climbed to 3.86. Then it was 4.27 in 2022 and 5.41 between the Pirates and Padres last year. Perhaps Hill’s ERA would have continued climbing if he tried to pitch another full season but he’s hoping that acting as a late-season hired gun will help him deliver better results with less volume.

How that plays out will be an interesting situation to monitor. There are only about seven weeks remaining in the regular season schedule at this point. Though Hill is throwing on his own, he will probably require a few weeks of ramp-up once he signs, a sort of belated Spring Training. In a best-case scenario, he can bolster a club’s rotation down the stretch and then factor into their postseason rotation as one of the freshest October arms around, despite now being 44 years old. Per Murray, Friday’s throwing session takes place at 10am Eastern time at Champion Physical Therapy and Performance in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Through a plan of his own devising, Hill has set himself up to be a unique entry into the market. Way back in August of 2022, he told Rob Bradford of WEEI that he was considering only playing in the second half of the 2023 season. The idea would have both off-field and on-field implications, as Hill could spend more time with his family and then theoretically have more impact for a club by preparing his body for a three-month sprint as opposed to a six- or seven-month grind. He would also have the freedom to target a contending club and increase his chances of playing for a World Series ring.

Hill didn’t follow through on his plan last year, as he agreed to an $8MM deal with the Pirates at the end of December. He spent the first few months of the season in Pittsburgh and then was flipped to San Diego at the deadline, though the Padres fell out of contention down the stretch and ultimately missed the playoffs.

The idea of a midseason signing was clearly still on his mind, however, as he mentioned the idea again in October to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Back in May, he told Ian Browne of MLB.com that he was still committed to the plan, saying that he turned down some offseason offers but was keeping himself ready to be signed when he decided it was time.

With the trade deadline now less than a week away, Hill is an intriguing wild card in the market. If any team is frustrated by the lack of sellers or simply put off by the asking prices for starting pitching, they could perhaps reach out to Hill. Or if Hill remains unsigned after the deadline, he could market himself to whichever clubs came up short in pursuing rotation upgrades via trade. Though he appears to be doing prep work on his own, he will presumably need some kind of ramp-up period even after signing.

Assuming he gets back on a major league mound for someone, he will be looking to continue what has already been a unique career. He struggled badly in 2009 and then hardly pitched in the majors at all from 2010 to 2014. Then he came roaring back with four excellent starts for the Red Sox in 2015 and amazingly had the best run of his career in his late 30s. From 2016 to 2020, his age-36 to age-40 seasons, he had a 3.01 earned run average in 476 innings. He paired a 28.3% strikeout rate with an 8.2% walk rate.

He’s naturally slipped a bit as he has pushed into his 40s, an age when most pitchers aren’t even still in the league, but the results have still been passable. He had a 4.04 ERA in 283 innings over 2021 and 2022, but then his ERA jumped to 5.41 last year.

If Hill can get any kind of a boost from his unusual trajectory this year, he could be a key pickup for the stretch run. For the Dodgers, they have had plenty of issues in their rotation this year. Both Emmet Sheehan and Dustin May are out for the year after undergoing season-ending surgeries. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is on the 60-day injured list due to a rotator cuff strain and can’t return until mid-August at the earliest. Bobby Miller is in the minors after posting an 8.07 ERA earlier this year. Walker Buehler also struggled before landing on the IL with a hip injury.

The club reinstated Tyler Glasnow from his own IL stint yesterday and will do the same with Clayton Kershaw today, but the rotation behind those two consists of rookies Gavin Stone, River Ryan and Justin Wrobleski. They could get Yamamoto, Buehler and/or Miller back later in the year but adding Hill would be sensible. The Dodgers are apparently more focused on an “impact” addition at the deadline as opposed to marginal upgrades, but adding Hill could be done in conjunction with their pursuits of guys like Garrett Crochet of the White Sox.

As for the Yankees, their rotation looks good on paper but has been struggling lately. Despite having Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes, Carlos Rodón, Marcus Stroman and Luis Gil, their rotation has a collective ERA of 5.11 since the start of June, which is better than just the Marlins and the Rockies in that time. Gil hardly pitched in the past two years due to Tommy John surgery but is already up to 107 1/3 innings here in 2024, so adding another starter and bumping him to a relief role or the minors would make sense. Clarke Schmidt is on the IL and could return to that mix later but has yet to begin a rehab assignment.

Both clubs are set to be third-time payors of the competitive balance tax and each is slated to finish 2024 above the fourth and final CBT tier in 2024. That means they would each be looking at a 110% tax rate for any money they give to Hill or anyone else at this point.

“I’ve been working out and throwing,” Hill said. “I’m continuing to progress and get ready for when that opportunity comes around to go and pitch. The idea is to be ready when that time comes.”

It was back in October that Hill told Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune his plan was to wait until the midway point to sign for the 2024 season, which wasn’t an entirely new idea for him. In August of 2022, he told Rob Bradford of WEEI that he was considering the half-season plan for 2023. He didn’t follow through on that, signing with the Pirates for the 2023 campaign in December of 2022. He was later traded to the Padres and finished last season with them.

This time around, it seems Hill is committed to following through on the experiment. The most recent offseason was rough on some veteran players, with Brandon Belt one player who remained unsigned and expressed frustration at the lack of interest. Hill is also unsigned but seemingly by choice, based on his claim that he turned down offers.

He has been open about wanting to spend more time with his family, currently coaching little league games for his son, but there’s also a logic to it from a performance standpoint. He is now 44 years old, far older than the average player. In fact, with Hill unsigned, the oldest active player in MLB right now is the 41-year-old Justin Verlander. If Hill eventually does join a team this summer, he’ll be the oldest player in the league by almost three years, with his March birthday just behind Verlander’s February birthday on the calendar.

Though he has remained remarkably effective into his 40s, his results have naturally dipped a bit. As recently as 2021, he was able to make 31 starts and toss 158 2/3 innings with a 3.86 earned run average. But his ERA ticked up to 4.27 in 2022 and then 5.41 last year. He had a 4.76 mark in 119 innings with the Bucs in 2023 but then an 8.23 ERA with the Padres after the deadline trade.

By waiting until midseason, he could perhaps sacrifice some quantity in favor of quality, staying fresh for the second half of the season while also targeting a spot on a club in the mix for a playoff spot. Contending clubs are always looking to bolster their pitching staffs for the final months of the schedule, and the large number of high-profile injuries could broaden the number of teams seeking reinforcements this year.

Hill’s status as a midseason mercenary will be an interesting experiment to watch this summer. For clubs looking for pitching but reluctant to surrender prospects, they could give Hill a call and not have to give up any young talent. If it goes well, it could potentially even set a precedent for older pitchers; other veteran hurlers might see the appeal of sitting out the first half and saving their bullets for a strong finish and playoff push.

Hill might not sign over the winter, however. While he’d previously expressed an intent to play in 2024, the 43-year-old (44 in March) now tells Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune he’s giving some thought to waiting until midway through the campaign before joining a new team.

It’s an atypical tack but one Hill has considered before. Last August, he told Rob Bradford of WEEI he was thinking about something similar for the 2023 season. The southpaw didn’t ultimately pursue it — he signed an $8MM deal with the Pirates just after Christmas — but that possibility is back on the table this winter.

There are a few reasons behind Hill’s decision-making. The most straightforward one is health. MLB’s oldest active player, Hill conceded to Acee he has “a pretty good gauge and a monitor on my body” and considers “half a season … much more palatable than a full season.” Hill also pointed to a desire to spend more time with his family, noting that he’d like to watch his 12-year-old son play during his final year of Little League baseball next spring. By waiting until midseason, he’d also have a chance to survey the competitive landscape and look to land a spot with a playoff contender.

Hill’s performance also suggests he could be better suited for a lighter role. His production dipped in the second half, especially after a deadline trade from Pittsburgh to San Diego. Hill carried a 4.76 ERA through 22 starts with the Bucs, reasonable production for a fifth or sixth starter. He was tagged for 8.23 earned runs per nine during his two months in Southern California, serving up eight homers in only 27 1/3 frames of work.

The Padres knocked Hill out of the rotation after five starts. They placed him on waivers in an unsuccessful attempt to shed the last few weeks of his salary. He remained in their bullpen after going unclaimed, working mostly low-leverage relief. Hill found more success in a very limited look in that capacity, turning in a 2.25 ERA with an above-average 26.5% strikeout rate in his final four appearances.

Despite the solid last few games, Hill’s subpar results early in his time with San Diego contributed to a lackluster 5.41 ERA through 146 1/3 frames. That’s more than a run higher than last season’s 4.27 figure and his highest mark since his remarkable late-career resurgence with the 2015 Red Sox.

Sept. 13: Padres southpaw Rich Hill went unclaimed on waivers, reports Rob Bradford of WEEI (Twitter link). San Diego doesn’t have to outright him to a minor league affiliate. In all likelihood, he’ll remain on the Friars’ roster for the final couple weeks of the season.

The Padres put the veteran southpaw on waivers earlier this week. With their playoff hopes dashed, they tried to offload the roughly $817K remaining on his $8MM contract. No other team bit, leaving San Diego on the hook for that sum.

It’s not an especially surprising development. Players acquired after August 31 are ineligible to participate in the postseason. Hill is an impending free agent, so he’d only be available to another team for the final two and a half weeks of the regular season. Even with clubs permitted to carry 14 pitchers on the roster in September, there wasn’t enough upside to absorb Hill’s above-minimum salary for just a few weeks.

The 43-year-old also simply hasn’t pitched well of late. He has been tagged for a 9.25 ERA over 24 1/3 innings since the deadline trade that sent him from the Pirates to San Diego. That includes two innings of two-run ball last night against the Dodgers. (Teams are permitted to continue using a player who is on waivers pending resolution of the claim.) He has allowed multiple runs in all but one of his eight outings as a Padre and has only gone beyond four innings once.

While there’s no sugarcoating his performance over the past six weeks, Hill was a reasonably effective back-end option for Pittsburgh. He worked to a 4.76 ERA through 22 starts for the Bucs, striking out 19.6% of batters faced against an 8.9% walk rate. Those are below-average marks but serviceable for a fifth/sixth starter, enough to pique San Diego’s interest at the deadline.

Overall, Hill sports a 5.53 ERA across 143 1/3 innings in what is his 19th year logging MLB action. He can work in a multi-inning relief capacity or make another start or two as San Diego plays out the string. He’ll have to take a cut relative to this year’s salary if he wants to continue playing, but he’d surely at least find minor league interest if he’s interested in prolonging his career.

Hill, 43, was acquired from the Pirates alongside Ji Man Choi prior to the trade deadline but hasn’t performed as hoped. In seven appearances with the Friars, he’s logged a 9.27 ERA, yielding 23 runs over the life of 22 1/3 innings. He was far more serviceable in Pittsburgh, where he logged a 4.76 ERA in 119 frames over the season’s first three months. Hill isn’t missing bats like he used to, with a below-average 19.6% strikeout rate against a slightly higher-than-average 8.9% walk rate.

It hasn’t been Hill’s best season, but he’s only a year removed from starting 26 games for the Red Sox and turning in a 4.27 earned run average with a slightly improved 20.7% strikeout rate and a sharp 7% walk rate. He wouldn’t be postseason-eligible with a new team, as players are required to be in their organization prior to Sept. 1 in order to qualify for that distinction. Still, a team in need of some innings down the stretch could certainly look to Hill as a veteran stopgap. He’s also voiced a desire to continue his career into 2024 — his age-44 season — so a quick stint elsewhere in the season’s final three weeks could serve as an audition of sorts for next year.

Hill’s recent performance and remaining salary give him a good chance at passing through waivers. However, if a team were to claim him, he’d have the potential to make some anecdotal history. The Padres are the 13th team of Hill’s career, placing him one shy of Edwin Jackson’s oddball record of 14 teams. If a new team claims Hill, he could tie Jackson’s mark and perhaps pass it this offseason, though that’s surely not of great consequence to him. (Immaculate Grid players, on the other hand, would surely welcome the record.)

In 379 career games dating all the way back to 2005, Hill has pitched 1400 1/3 innings, logging an overall 4.01 ERA with an 89-73 record, 23.9% strikeout rate and 9.1% walk rate. A new team and a potential offseason deal to come back for a 20th Major League season would give him a chance at topping 1500 innings and 100 wins in a career that’s been as lengthy as it has unusual.

Hill’s age-35 comeback season with the Red Sox was remarkable on its own — way back in 2015. At that point, the suggestion that Hill would still be pitching in 2023 with his sights set on continuing into 2024 would’ve sounded like utter lunacy. He’d pitched in just 153 innings in the seven seasons from 2008-14, compiling a 5.41 ERA and regularly being bounced off rosters and passed through waivers. His 1.55 ERA in four late-season starts with Boston in 2015 was a fun story, but the manner in which the next decade unfolded has been completely unforeseeable.

That 29-inning sample with the Red Sox prompted the A’s to sign Hill for a year and $6MM, and he went on to dominate with Oakland to the point that the Dodgers pounced to acquire him and Josh Reddick for a trio of then-prospects: Frankie Montas, Jharel Cotton and Grant Holmes. Hill re-signed in Los Angeles on three-year, $48MM deal that seemed surreal at the time, given where he’d been just a couple years prior.

He’s steadily slowed from an upper-tier starting pitcher to a cagey innings eater in the years since, pitching to a 3.00 ERA with a 29% strikeout rate from 2016-19 but a 4.15 ERA and 21% strikeout rate in 440 2/3 innings dating back to 2020. That includes a 4.76 ERA, 19.6% strikeout rate and 8.9% walk rate in 119 frames with the Pirates this year.

Hill will step into the back of the Padres’ rotation and help provide stable innings behind Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish and Blake Snell. Righty Seth Lugo is quickly approaching his career-high innings count after moving from a relief role to a starting role this year, and while he’s pitched quite well to date, it’s unclear how he’ll fare as his workload moves into uncharted territory. Hill’s steady, if unspectacular innings, could prove important as the Padres hope for a second-half surge that’ll push them back into the playoff picture.

How Hill fares in the season’s final two months will impact his earning power in free agency. It’s hard to imagine anyone inking him to a multi-year deal regardless, given his age, but his performance in San Diego will play a large role in dictating the type of guarantee he can command on another one-year pact.

Yesterday’s trade to the Padres was notable in that they’ll be Hill’s 13th Major League team — tying him for the second-most franchises appeared for by any player. Edwin Jackson holds that oddball record at 14. Hill will have a chance to tie him this offseason and perhaps even surpass him next year, if he’s traded during the 2024 campaign.