The Cleveland Guardians don’t often swim in the same free agent pool as the New York Yankees.
But as negotiations pick up in a hurry in November with a lockout looming on Dec. 1, Cleveland appears to be going after a player the Yankees hope to retain: Tim Hill.
Hill isn’t a household name, but he’s a useful left-handed pitcher, and he’d look good in a Guardians uniform.
A report about Hill this week included both the Guardians and the Yankees, and this is the latest information out there.
Tim Hill Guardians Rumor
Hill was linked to the Guardians by MLB insider Jon Heyman.
Heyman actually included a handful of teams in his report:
“The Yankees are interested in bringing back Tim Hill. The Guardians, Mets, Giants and Dodgers are among other teams in the mix.”
Later aggregation of Heyman’s reporting suggested that the Yankees and Guardians are the two leaders for signing Hill, but that’s not totally clear.
It would be fascinating if the Guardians got into a miniature bidding war with big-market teams like the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants.
Hill kind of feels like a Guardians pitcher, though, so don’t count them out.
Who is Tim Hill?
Tim Hill is a 36-year-old reliever who will turn 37 in February.
He stands 6-foot-4 and throws left-handed from a sidearm slot.
He was originally a 32nd-round pick by the Kansas City Royals in the 2014 MLB Draft out of Bacone College, which is an NAIA school located in Oklahoma.
Hill has pitched for the Royals, Padres, White Sox and Yankees.
His best season was 2024, when he came to the Yankees midway through the year and proceeded to post a 2.05 ERA in 35 games.
In 2025, Hill remained stout with a 3.09 ERA in a whopping 70 appearances for New York.
He regressed in 2026 to a 4.60 ERA in 67 outings.
Hill hardly strikes anyone out — a rate of 5.0 per nine innings in 2025 which dropped to 3.8 per nine innings in 2026.
He’s a soft-tossing lefty with a weird arm angle that makes it tough for hitters to make firm contact. With a good defense behind him and a bit of good fortune, he can remain effective.
The Guardians, along with those other suitors, surely wouldn’t pay Hill too highly as he enters his age-37 season, but it’s interesting in and of itself that the Guardians are looking into Hill while competing with some big fish in the first place.
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