The Yankees are still sorting through their bullpen options this offseason, and one name that has surfaced is Tim Hill. According to the New York Daily News, the club has not only checked in on long reliever Ryan Yarbrough and shown strong interest in bringing back breakout setup man Paul Blackburn, but also has some interest in re-signing Hill after leaving him off the playoff roster.
That would be a risky move for a team trying to build a championship-caliber relief corps.
Hill’s Yankees run started as a smart, low-cost gamble in 2024, when the club grabbed him after the White Sox released him in mid-June. Matt Blake and the Yankees quickly reshaped his approach, leaning harder into his sinker and dialing back the flat high-80s fastball that had muted his deception.
The adjustment worked. Hill’s sinker-heavy mix helped him keep the ball on the ground at an elite rate and limit damage far better than before.
For a stretch, he looked like a perfect fit. Through the end of the 2025 season, Hill posted a 2.68 ERA in his first 111 innings as a Yankee, and left-handed hitters had a hard time doing anything with him. He held them below the Mendoza Line and allowed just one home run.
But the cracks were already there. In 2025, he was giving up harder contact, and after doing a great job suppressing barrels in 2024, he suddenly surrendered seven home runs to right-handed hitters. The deception that made the whole package work wasn’t nearly as sharp.
By 2026, the slide was impossible to ignore. Hill still handled lefties well, holding them to a .213/.265/.346 line, but his stuff flattened out and his command deteriorated. Right-handed hitters took full advantage, batting .293/.365/.543 with seven home runs and nine extra-base hits in 104 plate appearances.
That kind of split left him in a very narrow lane. The numbers show a pitcher who can still be useful in limited spots, but not one you want leaning on in meaningful innings. His chase rate dropped, his quality-of-contact metrics slipped below average, and the sinker that once revived his career started working against him, especially when his location wavered.
The result was a steep fall from high-leverage lefty to playoff afterthought. Hill was left off the postseason roster, with Brent Headrick and Ryan Yarbrough jumping him. He can still get lefties out and still has the ability to induce a ground-ball double play, but for a Yankees team with bigger ambitions, that profile looks far too fragile.
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Yankees Triple-A Club Just Took On An Identity Fans Will Notice
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For the organization, it is more than a cosmetic change. The new identity gives the affiliate a clearer place in the system, and it arrives with some intrigue on the field as well, with pitching prospects Elmer Rodriguez and Carlos Lagrange expected to headline the staff in 2027. For a farm club that serves as a bridge to the Bronx, the name change adds a little extra history to follow while the next wave of arms gets ready. [Read more 🡒]