3 trade targets from the San Diego Padres for the Colorado Rockies

San Diego Padres reliever Tim Hill would be a fit for the Colorado Rockies

San Diego Padres reliever Tim Hill would be a perfect fit for the Colorado Rockies in a few ways.

Hill, who turns 32 next month, would fill the left-handed reliever role well for the Rockies, as they were lacking in that department in 2021. In 2021, the Rockies only used two left-handed relievers (with the exception of four innings from Zac Rosscup): rookies Lucas Gilbreath and Ben Bowden. There were a few weeks during the season that the Rockies even went without a left-handed reliever.

Bowden had his MLB debut delayed due to the pandemic and some injuries in the minors but he did not see much success at the big league level in his first MLB season. Gilbreath, before making his MLB debut in May, had never pitched above Advanced-A ball. He was a starter there in 2019 but after shaky outings in his first half dozen appearances, he was, arguably, the Rockies best reliever in 2021.

In 2021, Hill appeared in 78 games as a left-handed specialist (59 2/3 innings) and he had an ERA of 3.62 (108 ERA+). He had a 1.24 WHIP and he averaged 3.5 walks and 8.4 strikeouts per nine innings. In 2019 and 2020, he averaged good results as well (3.90 ERA, 4.00 FIP, 119 ERA+).

Other than being a lefty, Hill would also be a fit because his groundball rate. Since 2019, it is 58.3 percent, which is 9th-highest among relievers with at least 100 innings since then.

Hill is also from the San Diego area and went to college in Oklahoma. Rockies manager Bud Black is from San Diego and still lives there in the offseason.

The Rockies have signed some players from the San Diego area in recent years due to their connection with Black in San Diego (Connor Joe, Wynton Bernard, etc.). They also have been known for their scouting and connections to Oklahoma (Matt Holliday, Jon Gray, etc.).

Our final installment of our trade targets series for the Colorado Rockies concludes with the San Francisco Giants being the final team.