Yankees.com: Yankees reach deal to bring back lefty reliever Tim Hill

From David Adler:

Tim Hill is returning to the Yankees on a one-year, $2.85 million contract with a club option for 2026, according to a report from ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Tuesday.

Hill’s club option is for $3 million, with a $350,000 buyout, per Passan. The team hasn’t confirmed the report.

A couple of down notes about Hill before I celebrate his return (and I’ll be frank, I legit AM happy that he is back)….

1. Would I have used Tim Hill over Nestor Cortes in Game 1 of the World Series? Definitely, but at the same time, I had absolutely ZERO faith in Tim Hill getting out of that jam. First and second and one out with Ohtani, Betts, and Freeman due up? As good as Hill had been, he was still giving up contact, and he’s very much NOT the guy you want with the tying run on second base with one out. Let’s not get it twisted that Hill was going to be some dominant stopper there. He pitched well in the World Series, but in MUCH lower leverage innings than a one-run game in the 10th inning. When he was used in a decently high leverage inning in Game 4, he DID give up a hit to Ohtani, and then allowed a run to score. I just don’t like this myth that he was some dominant reliever.

2. One of the whole points of Matt Blake is that he can find guys off of the scrap heap and turn them into good relievers, so why pay almost $3 million to a guy who was washed up when the Yankees found him? Why not just get ANOTHER guy off of the scrap heap and pay him the minimum? $3 million shouldn’t matter to the Yankees, but it apparently does, so if they are working with a relatively strict budget, this stuff matters.

Okay, that being said, Hill was great as a Yankee, and if you believe that Blake, like, “fixed” him or whatever, then he should be a good pitcher in 2025, as well, and it is always nice to have another good pitcher on the team, and if he does well, they control him cheaply for 2026, as well.

So I AM happy about the deal, just wanted to temper expectations a bit (and, yes, complain a bit about the “Tim Hill, playoff fireman” narrative).