Padres southpaw Wealthy Hill went unclaimed on waivers, experiences Rob Bradford of WEEI (Twitter link). San Diego doesn’t must outright him to a minor league affiliate. In all probability, he’ll stay on the Friars’ roster for the ultimate couple weeks of the season.
The Padres put the veteran southpaw on waivers earlier this week. With their playoff hopes dashed, they tried to dump the roughly $817K remaining on his $8MM contract. No different staff bit, leaving San Diego on the hook for that sum.
It’s not an particularly stunning growth. Gamers acquired after August 31 are ineligible to take part within the postseason. Hill is an impending free agent, so he’d solely be accessible to a different staff for the ultimate two and a half weeks of the common season. Even with golf equipment permitted to hold 14 pitchers on the roster in September, there wasn’t sufficient upside to soak up Hill’s above-minimum wage for just some weeks.
The 43-year-old additionally merely hasn’t pitched properly of late. He has been tagged for a 9.25 ERA over 24 1/3 innings because the deadline commerce that despatched him from the Pirates to San Diego. That features two innings of two-run ball final evening in opposition to the Dodgers. (Groups are permitted to proceed utilizing a participant who’s on waivers pending decision of the declare.) He has allowed a number of runs in all however one in all his eight outings as a Padre and has solely gone past 4 innings as soon as.
Whereas there’s no sugarcoating his efficiency over the previous six weeks, Hill was a fairly efficient back-end possibility for Pittsburgh. He labored to a 4.76 ERA by means of 22 begins for the Bucs, placing out 19.6% of batters confronted in opposition to an 8.9% stroll charge. These are below-average marks however serviceable for a fifth/sixth starter, sufficient to pique San Diego’s curiosity on the deadline.
Total, Hill sports activities a 5.53 ERA throughout 143 1/3 innings in what’s his nineteenth 12 months logging MLB motion. He can work in a multi-inning aid capability or make one other begin or two as San Diego performs out the string. He’ll must take a minimize relative to this 12 months’s wage if he needs to proceed taking part in, however he’d absolutely a minimum of discover minor league curiosity if he’s desirous about prolonging his profession.
