SAN DIEGO (AP) — The big-budget San Diego Padres, desperate to turn around their disappointing season, obtained 43-year-old left-hander Rich Hill and first baseman/designated hitter Ji Man Choi from the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday for three players.
The Padres are led by stars Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, Juan Soto and Xander Bogaerts yet are buried in fourth place in the NL West, 8 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, and five games out of the third wild-card spot, with four teams ahead of them. The Padres entered this season with World Series aspirations after reaching the NL Championship Series last year and then increasing their payroll to nearly $250 million, third highest in the majors.
The deal came six days after Choi homered in a 3-2 win at Petco Park that left the Padres 1-5 in the season series against the Pirates. The wildly inconsistent Padres then swept the AL West-leading Texas Rangers over the weekend before suffering an almost incomprehensible defeat Monday night at Colorado. The Padres had the bases loaded with no outs in the 10th inning but failed to score, and they dropped to 0-10 in extra-inning games by losing 4-3.
The Padres parted with prospects Jackson Wolf, a left-hander, and Estuar Suero, an outfielder, as well as first baseman Alfonso Rivas.
“Obviously, looking forward to a new chapter that’s ahead in San Diego,” Hill said in Pittsburgh. “The time here was unbelievable. Looking forward to the future here in Pittsburgh, it looks pretty good. With the starting rotation, the guys that have been up here from last year, the last couple seasons that have now been able to establish themselves at this level and some that have had the experience to be able to step up for next season and have that depth that championship clubs need.”
The Pirates traded for Choi and signed Hill last winter in an effort to bolster a young roster trying to learn how to win.
Choi strained his Achilles in mid-April and missed nearly three months, giving veteran Carlos Santana the bulk of the work at first base. Choi was solid if not spectacular when he returned at the beginning of July, hitting .268 with four home runs and nine RBIs in 14 games since July 7.
The league's oldest player, Hill was his typical self, mixing a fastball that can still touch 90 mph on a good day with an array of breaking pitches that sometimes failed to top 70 mph. When he was on, he was good. When he wasn’t, starts could occasionally turn into batting practice.
Hill went 7-10 with a 4.76 ERA in 22 starts for the Pirates, though he cooled as temperatures rose. The left-hander went 0-3 with a 5.70 ERA in July. Yet the example he set on how to be a pro for a staff that includes first-time All-Star Mitch Keller and 2019 first-round pick Quinn Priester, who was 4 years old when Hill made his major league debut in 2005, is one the Pirates hope will benefit the club down the road.
Pittsburgh flirted with contention after a 20-8 start but has faded over the last three months. It sent Santana to Milwaukee last weekend and appears ready to let young players like Priester and 2021 first overall pick catcher/outfielder Henry Davis, 2020 first-round pick infielder Nick Gonzalez and catcher Endy Rodriguez take the majority of the reps the rest of the way for a team pointing firmly to 2024 and beyond.
The Padres released DH Nelson Cruz on July 4 and Matt Carpenter is hitting just .166 with four homers and 15 RBIs. The Padres have struggled with runners in scoring position all season.
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AP Sports Writer Will Graves and freelancer John Perrotto in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.
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