Padres reliever Tim Hill underwent surgery today to address a ligament injury in his left ring finger, tweets Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He won’t throw for six to eight weeks but is expected to be ready for Spring Training.
Hill, 34 in February, has spent the last four seasons as a situational option out of the San Diego bullpen. A sidearming lefty, he doesn’t throw hard but works from a low enough arm angle to usually keep the ball on the ground. Hill’s grounder percentage has been a bit north of 60% for three years running, while his career mark is just below that threshold. That resulted in consecutive sub-4.00 ERA showings from 2021-22, but his results this season haven’t been as impressive.
Over 44 1/3 innings, Hill posted a 5.48 ERA. He struck out fewer than 13% of batters faced for the second straight year. While Hill kept his walks and grounders in his customary range, he struggled when opponents were able to elevate the ball. Right-handed hitters posted a .378/.431/.602 batting line in 110 plate appearances. Righties have frequently given him trouble, which isn’t uncommon for low-slot lefties, but this year’s results were easily a career worst.
Hill has generally fared well against same-handed batters. From 2020-22, he kept lefties to a .212/.299/.303 line in 262 trips to the plate. Opponents found more success this season, putting up a .275/.352/.400 mark over 92 plate appearances.
The Padres and Hill agreed on a $1.85MM salary to avoid arbitration last winter. He’d be due a modest raise on that figure if San Diego wanted to keep him around for his final season of eligibility. Given his diminished results, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Padres opt against tendering him a contract.
He was so bad this year. It can’t all be about that finger.
I’d suggest that Hill’s an easy Non-Tender candidate. The consistent lack of results is disturbing and the K ratios are laughable. Then again, bullpen lefties are always a thang…
He’s not even a good LOOGY either. Lefty batters still are hitting .275 with a .752 OPS against him.
A depleted farm system may force them to keep him around.
Knowing Preller’s penchant for injured men, they’ll up him to $3.5M with a $10M player option for 2025.
What depleted farm system? Padres farm ranks in the top 10 and most of the best prospects are in AA.
Which is actually quite impressive considering where they were ranked at this time a year ago. The Padres are currently ranked with the 9th best farm system by MLB.com, this time last year they were 28th and opened the seasons at 25 so Preller and co. has done a decent job restocking the farm even if there may not be any immediate help on the horizon
He gave up 4 runs in the recovery room.
They’re best to non-tender him and look for another situational lefty via trade or free agency…
>They’re best to non-tender him and
So what you’re saying is Preller will offer him 6 years $37MM with a player option for 2 years $13MM? 8 years max would cover his peak years into his mid-40s.
That’s what I was thinking. They will offer him 4/24.
Two months ago I predicted the Padres would make a run and get into the playoffs. The 0dds still say, no. But each day they keep inching closer to that final slot.
I think their fate lies with the Cubs losing. I believe the Reds and Giants aren’t gonna make it.
Pretty much have to run the table from here on out. Something they are capable of doing IMHO, even without Musgrove and Darvish.
Too bad they had to give Hill those starts when an L was almost a certainty.
Their wins this week were against the Rockies which hardly counts. A winning streak against decent teams is much less likely.
And bad news for your hopes, the Cubs host the Rockies for 3 games starting tomorrow. That should be at least 2 more Cubs wins.
So you’re saying the Padres wins against the Rockies don’t count, but the Cubs wins against the Rockies magically do count? Okay.
The Rockies are always tough because they score a ot of runs. The Padres probably wont make the playoffs unless they experience a miracle
No, the obvious point was that sweeping the Rockies shouldn’t be taken as a sign they are suddenly a playoff-bound juggernaut.
Add off this morning, Fangraphs has their playoff chances at .3%
If SD won out under that scenario they would need Chicago to go 4-7 or worse and Miami to go 5-5 or worse. It’s technically mathematically still possible, but realistically there’s just no way they win 16 games in a row to end the season and get that help from the teams above them.
Making up 4.5 games with only 9 left to play is no easy feat. However the schedule makers are on their side as the Padres final 9 are against the Cardinals, Giants and White Sox.
SD has to pass FOUR other teams.
If only one of CIN,MIA,CHC goes on a winning streak playing cupcakes, it won’t matter what SD does.
Maybe we should form a team in the OTL tournament called “Oh &$@! here comes Hill.”
Needs to fix that deviated septum.