Aaron Hill told Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star that the Blue Jays have not approached him about the options they have for his 2012-14 seasons (Twitter link). The Blue Jays can exercise all three options before the season for $26MM total, exercise the 2012-13 options after the season for $16MM total or decline the options and allow Hill to hit free agency next fall.
As Griffin points out, it does not appear that the Blue Jays will exercise the three options before the season, which means Hill will either become a free agent after the season or see the Blue Jays exercise his 2012-13 options for $16MM total.
No qualified hitter in baseball had a lower batting average on balls in play than Hill last year, an indication that the second baseman was unlucky. Hill, who turned 29 last week, finished the 2010 season with 26 homers and an unusual .205/.271/.394 batting line.
It will be a big mistake if Alex fails to take advantage of a cheap year for an elite defensive 2B with a good bat. Even if he’s hitting .250 with 20 bombs or whatever he’s worth it.
if havens doesnt stay healthy this year..love to see this guy on the mets..
i believe i read somewhere that he was willing to shift positions to accommodate another player…how versatile is he
He’s got the arm to play third and obviously excellent range, so I guess he could play there. Being twice named the best defensive player in baseball though, I think his best value comes at second.
Sure, they’ll be overpaying a little, but the guy has legit power and is being paid appropriate veteran money. The Blue Jays gave him that contract and structured it this way for a reason, but if I were them I’d exercise those options. Not every contract that isn’t paying a player pennies on the dollar is an albatross. It’s a fair deal for both sides.
More than likely, the Jays probably want to see whether Hill bounces back this year (in terms of both health and production), and then will decide whether to pick up the two options. It is not as if that closes the door on them later extending him.
It makes you wonder though if AA is possibly thinking that moving Escobar to 2B and signing Reyes to play SS is an option, unless Hechevarria breaks out. Just thinking out loud.
In any case I’d rather keep Hill’s power IF he can rebound in terms of consistency.
I’d say you’re over-thinking Escobar in the long-term plans of this team.
Then there is something wrong with their thinking. Premium SS is rare. Mind you if Hech comes through that premium SS has a lot of value.
really???
AA doesnt seem to make trades just for the sake of making them. why’d he deal gonzalez then? certainly wasnt for jojo reyes
slick fielding, good hitting SS’s are rare. and assuming escobar gets back close to his .300 career BA which he had before last season, he wont be going anywhere anytime soon.
they are picking up those options for sure… two years 16 mill that is like 1.6 war a year he is worth that defensively alone
yeah he’d have to really tumble this year to not have those options picked up…he’ll have a good year and they’ll get picked up..i think its prudent not to exercise all 3 at the moment…let him play for his money.
good player good guy…glad he’s a jay. his defense has regressed a bit but when he’s right he is the 3rd best second basemen in the AL behind Cano and Kinsler.
yes he’s better then that midget in boston.
They prefer to be called little people.
Hahahaha, oh boy. Good one.
NO HE WASN’T UNLUCKY!!! HE SUCKED. STOP USING MADE UP STATS AS AN EXCUSE
even taking into account his low linedrive rate and high flyball rate, his BABIP was way too low. He should have had a BABIP in the low-mid .200’s, not below .200
you just made that up
Smurphs know nothing about baseball!!!
i’m inclined to agree, he swung at practically everything that came within 3 feet of the outside corner and pulled off of everything. he got stuck in an incredibly horrible funk and could not drag himself out for a whole season. mind games were definitely part of the problem. i still think he bounces back big this year and reasserts himself as one of the elite 2B’s in baseball.
low BABIP does not mean that he WAS unlucky, it means there was A CHANCE that he was unlucky. to prove that he actually was unlucky you would have to go back and look at every out he made last season on balls in play and count the number of hard hit balls he hit right at guys. based on his other peripherals, i’d say he just hit the ball like crap when he did hit it at all.
AA will wait until the trade deadline to see what he can get for Hill before deciding. If he can flip a hot Hill for Miller (Cards) or Belt (Giants) you can say bye bye. IF Hill hits .220 again he isn’t worth 8 million a year. AA will do what is right and he will not gamble with our future.
Jays 2013
Nobody would trade guys like that for Aarron Hill. Stop dreaming.
Hes had one bad year. yet his power didn’t drop off much, going to be hard to for him NOT to improve on last season.
Look at the impending 2b free agents, rough stuff. If they exercise his options he immediately becomes the hottest commodity and could fetch a huge return from a trade, they could move Lawrie back to 2nd since 3rd baseman seem a bit easier to find than 2nd baseman. Or they could could exercise his option and just keep him
Nice guy, but personally never liked his game.. I like his old game better in the minors, he had less power but got on base at a much better rate. . To me he has signified all thats been wrong with this team in the last few years.. Oh its okay that you have a .304 OBP because you hit 25HR’s … not everyone on the team needs to hit jacks, leave Slugging to the corner infielders and outfielders, 2B,SS, and CF need to get on base.
Even in his break out year where pretty much everything went right for him, his OBP was a pedestrian .330..
I hope he has a really good year, restores his value and AA flips him to a team looking for power.