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Royals Sign Rich Hill To Minor League Deal

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The Royals announced that they have signed left-hander Rich Hill to a minor league deal. He will report to the club’s spring training/Complex League facility in Surprise but will be heading to Triple-A Omaha soon.

The veteran lefty has already defied the normal aging curves and seems determined to do so again. Now 45 years old, Hill would easily be the oldest player in the majors if he eventually has his contract selected. 42-year-old Justin Verlander is oldest active player at the moment.

Hill has a long and storied career that dates back to his 2005 debut. He had some success in the subsequent years, followed by a long stretch of being injured and/or ineffective. He returned to prominence about a decade ago, amazingly having some of his best seasons while in his mid-30s.

Lately, the results haven’t been quite as strong. His last full season was 2023, in which he finished with a 5.41 earned run average. That was fairly lopsided, as he had a 4.76 ERA with the Pirates but then struggled badly after being traded to the Padres.

He believed that he could be better with an unconventional approach, so he intentionally waited until late in 2024 to sign a new deal. This would allow him to spend more time with his family, in addition to saving his best results for later in the year, theoretically giving him a better chance to thrive in competitive games down the stretch.

The plan didn’t quite work out. He signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox in the middle of August. After a couple of weeks in the minors, he was added to the big league roster but wasn’t given a rotation job. He made four low-leverage relief appearances before being designated for assignment and then released.

Over the winter, he said he was still planning to pitch in 2025, but without trying the same late-signing strategy. As recently as three weeks ago, he said he was still throwing and hoping to sign. Whether it’s by design or simply due to a soft market, Hill is now splitting the difference somewhat. He is signing and getting started later in the year, but with a few extra months of potential ramp-up time relative to last season.

The Royals don’t really need starting pitching. They have one of the best rotations in the majors, something that MLBTR’s Anthony Franco recently took a detailed look at. They have a strong front four in Cole Ragans, Kris Bubic, Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha, with Michael Lorenzen a serviceable back-end guy as well. Noah Cameron, one of the better pitching prospects in the majors, is on the 40-man and pitching in the Triple-A rotation.

However, there’s little harm in adding some extra depth, just in case the injury bug bites. The Royals have also recently seen both Alec Marsh and Kyle Wright suffer setbacks in their rehabs, so perhaps they have added Hill in response to those developments.

Even if they don’t need him, they can let him take the ball and get into game shape. If he finds himself in good form as the trade deadline approaches, they could perhaps flip him to some other club with a greater rotation need. It’s also possible that the deal contains some opt-outs or upward mobility clauses, so Hill can get out of the deal if the Royals don’t call him up.

If Hill is able to get back to the majors, with the Royals or some other club, he would get a chance to add to his career stat lines. He has 1,409 big league innings over his career with a 4.01 ERA, 24% strikeout rate and 9.1% walk rate.

Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images.

Rich Hill Still Planning To Pitch This Year

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Rich Hill continues to throw in hopes of signing soon, he tells Chris Cotillo of MassLive. Cotillo adds that multiple teams — including one from the AL East that is not the Red Sox — have shown interest in the 45-year-old lefty.

Hill told The San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser in January that he planned to continue pitching. There haven’t been any definitive reports within the past three months, but Hill evidently still hopes to reach the big leagues for a 21st consecutive season. Last year, he waited until the middle of August to agree to a minor league contract with the Red Sox (on what was his eighth different deal with Boston). The Sox called him up a couple weeks later but released him after 3 2/3 innings.

Last year’s late signing was deliberate. Hill wanted to spend time with his family early in the season, while the later signing would theoretically keep him fresh and allow him to prioritize a deal with a potential playoff team. That didn’t really work out as hoped, as Hill didn’t get much of a look on a Boston team that was only a fringe contender. He has previously suggested he could pursue more of a traditional full-season schedule this time around, though he obviously remains unsigned nearly a month after Opening Day.

Rich Hill, Jesse Chavez Plan To Pitch In 2025

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Veteran pitchers Rich Hill and Jesse Chavez are 45 and 41 years young, respectively, and both recently told Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle that they intend to pitch in 2025. Both hurlers appeared in the majors this past season, albeit quite briefly in Hill’s case.

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.

Free Agent Notes: Stratton, Martin, Hill, De Jesus

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The Pirates have non-tendered Hunter Stratton in each of the last two offseasons, and after re-signing him to a minor league contract last winter, a team source tells Justin Guerriero of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that the Bucs want to do the same this time around.  Stratton suffered a ruptured patellar tendon in late August after a freak injury that saw the right-hander stumble into the stone wall behind home plate at PNC Park while pursuing a loose ball.

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.

Rich Hill Open To Pitching In 2025

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Free agent left-hander Rich Hill is representing the United States in the Premier12 tournament, scheduled to start Thursday night’s game. But he’s open to returning to Major League Baseball in 2025, which would be his age-45 season.

“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.

Red Sox Release Rich Hill

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The Red Sox released Rich Hill, tweets Christopher Smith of MassLive. The veteran southpaw can latch on elsewhere for the final few weeks of the regular season. Since he’d be signing after the start of September, he will not be eligible for this year’s postseason if he continues playing.

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.

Red Sox Designate Rich Hill For Assignment

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The Red Sox announced Friday that they’ve designated left-hander Rich Hill for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to right-hander Luis Guerrero, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Worcester.

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.

Red Sox To Select Rich Hill

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The Red Sox are selecting the contract of veteran left-hander Rich Hill, according to Robert Murray of FanSided. Corresponding moves will be necessary to make room for Hill on both the 40-man and active rosters.

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.

Red Sox, Rich Hill In Agreement On Minor League Deal

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Today: The Red Sox and Rich Hill have formally agreed on a minor league deal, reports Ian Browne of MLB.com. The veteran will report to Triple-A Worcester on Tuesday.

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.

Twins Showing Interest In Rich Hill

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The Twins have been in contact with veteran left-hander Rich Hill, who hosted a showcase for big league scouts earlier today, reports Dan Hayes of The Athletic. The Red Sox were also in attendance for Hill’s showcase, WEEI’s Rob Bradford tweets, though it’s not clear whether they’ve spoken to Hill about a potential reunion. The Yankees and Dodgers were previously connected to Hill and thus presumably also in attendance this morning.

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.

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