Diamondbacks Still Trying To Trade Aaron Hill

The Diamondbacks are still attempting to find a taker for second baseman Aaron Hill, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports on Twitter. Arizona has indicated that it will not finalize its Opening Day roster until tomorrow, which could be due in part to efforts to move Hill.

It appears that Hill will start the season on the bench if he is not moved, as manager Chip Hale tells reporters that Chris Owings will start at second with Nick Ahmed taking over at short (via Zach Buchanan of the Arizona Republic, on Twitter). Needless to say, it appears that the club would be pleased to find a taker for some of Hill’s $12MM salary.

Of course, the 33-year-old Hill has long been the subject of trade speculation, but it has bee hard to find a believer in his bat after a rough .244/.287/.367 campaign last year. Hill had put up two straight highly productive seasons at the plate before that time, at least when healthy, but did not help his cause with a .189/.232/.208 slash over 53 spring at-bats.