TODAY: The move has been officially announced by the Yankees. February 4: The Yankees are bringing left-hander back on a one-year, $2.85MM contract, ESPNs Jeff Pa san. Hill, a client of Paragon Sports International, will be paid $2.5MM in 2025 and has a $350K buyout on a $3MM Steve Nash Jersey club option for the 2026 season. Hill, 34, opened the 2024 season with the White Sox but was released in June after being tagged for a 5.07 ERA in 23 innings with the South Siders. He turned his entire season around upon signing with the Yankees, for whom he posted a pristine 2.05 earned run average in 48 innings from mid-June through seasons end. He to sed another 8 1/3 innings during postseason play and held opponents to one run during that time. The veteran Hill is a sidearming sinker specialist who relies far more on grounders than on mi sing bats. A whopping 68.2% of batted balls against Hill were grounders. Conversely, his paltry 10.7% strikeout rate was the second-lowest among all pitchers who to sed at least 40 innings in 2024. No pitcher allowed a higher contact percentage than Hills 88.7%, and none had a lower swinging-strike rate than Hills 5.7% mark. Even with the lack of mi sed bats, that huge ground-ball rate and a terrific 6.5% walk rate (5.2% with the Yankees) helped Hill to mitigate damage. As one might expect from a player who so rarely mi ses bats, Hill yielded quite a few hits in 2024. Opponents batted .290 against him an average of 10.3 hits per nine innings pitched. However, the overwhelming majority were singles. Hill faced 291 hitters and only yielded nine extra-base hits (seven doubles and two homers). He was more effective against lefties than righties, but neither hit for any power against him. Southpaw swingers hit .273/.321/.322, while righties hit .303/.352/.352. Hills penchant for allowing contact could theoretically get him into trouble, but with so many singles, so few walks and so many grounders, he saw eight double plays induced behind him; only 11 relievers in all of MLB generated more (five of whom also simply pitched more innings). Prior to their agreement with Hill, the Yankees didnt have a lefty projected to be in the bullpen. They didnt even have a left-handed reliever on the 40-man roster. Hell now join a relief corps headlined by trade acquisition but also featuring , , (another trade pickup), and . , on the mend from last years April UCL procedure, will join the group eventually but could open the season on the 60-day injured list. The bullpen could expand further if and when the Yankees trade , who theyve been shopping throughout the winter. The roster would have six starters if the season began today, but a trade of Stroman will thin out the rotation and perhaps free up some money to bring in another lefty and/or add the infielder the Yankees have sought this offseason. Adding Hills guarantee to the books pushes the Yankees projected cash payroll to just over $285MM, . Theyre already in the top tier of luxury penalization, which means Hill will come with a 110% tax against the $2.85MM AAV of his contract. That weighs in at a $3.135MM tax hit, bringing the total expenditure for re-signing Hill to $5.985MM. RosterResource now has the Yankees luxury ledger at a bit more than $305MM. Of course, trading Stroman could reduce that bill substantially, though theres no feasible way that the Yankees would duck the tax entirely (or even scale their overages back to le s than $40MM, which would be required to avoid the penalty that drops next years top draft pick by 10 spots). Kristaps Porzingis Jersey
TODAY: The move has been officially announced by the Yankees. February 4: The Yankees are bringing left-hander back on a one-year, $2.85MM contract, ESPNs Jeff Pa san. Hill, a client of Paragon Sports International, will be paid $2.5MM in 2025 and has a $350K buyout on a $3MM Steve Nash Jersey club option for the 2026 season. Hill, 34, opened the 2024 season with the White Sox but was released in June after being tagged for a 5.07 ERA in 23 innings with the South Siders. He turned his entire season around upon signing with the Yankees, for whom he posted a pristine 2.05 earned run average in 48 innings from mid-June through seasons end. He to sed another 8 1/3 innings during postseason play and held opponents to one run during that time. The veteran Hill is a sidearming sinker specialist who relies far more on grounders than on mi sing bats. A whopping 68.2% of batted balls against Hill were grounders. Conversely, his paltry 10.7% strikeout rate was the second-lowest among all pitchers who to sed at least 40 innings in 2024. No pitcher allowed a higher contact percentage than Hills 88.7%, and none had a lower swinging-strike rate than Hills 5.7% mark. Even with the lack of mi sed bats, that huge ground-ball rate and a terrific 6.5% walk rate (5.2% with the Yankees) helped Hill to mitigate damage. As one might expect from a player who so rarely mi ses bats, Hill yielded quite a few hits in 2024. Opponents batted .290 against him an average of 10.3 hits per nine innings pitched. However, the overwhelming majority were singles. Hill faced 291 hitters and only yielded nine extra-base hits (seven doubles and two homers). He was more effective against lefties than righties, but neither hit for any power against him. Southpaw swingers hit .273/.321/.322, while righties hit .303/.352/.352. Hills penchant for allowing contact could theoretically get him into trouble, but with so many singles, so few walks and so many grounders, he saw eight double plays induced behind him; only 11 relievers in all of MLB generated more (five of whom also simply pitched more innings). Prior to their agreement with Hill, the Yankees didnt have a lefty projected to be in the bullpen. They didnt even have a left-handed reliever on the 40-man roster. Hell now join a relief corps headlined by trade acquisition but also featuring , , (another trade pickup), and . , on the mend from last years April UCL procedure, will join the group eventually but could open the season on the 60-day injured list. The bullpen could expand further if and when the Yankees trade , who theyve been shopping throughout the winter. The roster would have six starters if the season began today, but a trade of Stroman will thin out the rotation and perhaps free up some money to bring in another lefty and/or add the infielder the Yankees have sought this offseason. Adding Hills guarantee to the books pushes the Yankees projected cash payroll to just over $285MM, . Theyre already in the top tier of luxury penalization, which means Hill will come with a 110% tax against the $2.85MM AAV of his contract. That weighs in at a $3.135MM tax hit, bringing the total expenditure for re-signing Hill to $5.985MM. RosterResource now has the Yankees luxury ledger at a bit more than $305MM. Of course, trading Stroman could reduce that bill substantially, though theres no feasible way that the Yankees would duck the tax entirely (or even scale their overages back to le s than $40MM, which would be required to avoid the penalty that drops next years top draft pick by 10 spots). Kristaps Porzingis Jersey