Padres the Right Choice for Shawn Hill.

Recently, Shawn Hill signed a minor league deal with the San Diego Padres, he chose his future employer wisely.

There were likely several teams willing to give him a minor league deal after being released by the Washington Nationals.  There is little to no risk in signing a free agent to a minor league deal.  From the Club’s perspective, there is no guaranteed money involved – if you have space in AAA and the player has the potential to help your Major League team – why not sign him?

Shawn Hill as an Expo - for Mike Shaw

Having gone through several of these negotiations, agents are typically looking for a few things for their clients.  

The first two are pretty obvious.

1. Opportunity
2. Money

The order of importance can be reversed depending on the status of the player and his history.  A player such as Freddy Garcia has made plenty of money in his career and probably chose the Mets because of opportunity.  I’m sure he felt he would win a spot in the rotation (he didn’t) and have a chance to play on a winning team.  Opportunity was the key factor in his decision.

A player such as Shawn Hill hasn’t made millions, may be tempted by money – whether it’s part of his minor league salary, major league salary or incentives. Baseball careers are short in the grand scheme, and a pitcher’s career could end at any moment – so you couldn’t blame someone for trying to secure some additional dollars.  I have no idea what the offers were for Hill from other Clubs, but it’s safe to assume none were for a ton of guaranteed money.

So Hill and his agent looked at the opportunities presented, and decided he had a great chance to be part of the Padres rotation sooner than later. Jake Peavy and Chris Young are solidly in place and will probably be joined by the inconsistent Cha Seung Baek and Kevin Correia.  After that, it could very well be Shawn Hill.  Even if he fails to impress immediately, there is a good chance he will be the first called upon when the inevitable injury or struggles happen.

This scenario could have played out with several Clubs – many teams are looking for some options at the back-end of their rotation.  

Yet he chose the Padres and I don’t think it was about the weather.  Which brings me to my 3rd thing players and agents are looking for when they make this decision.  

The opportunity to make more money.

Think about it, Hill has had a history of injury problems and has just been released by the Washington Nationals.  He’s not 100% sure where his career is going.  So why not go to the place where you have the best chance to succeed?  

If you’re a pitcher and you need to reestablish yourself, where would you like to go to work?  Is it the AL or the NL?  

It’s a no-brainer.  Hill has a chance to put up solid numbers in a park, division and league very kind to pitchers.  Those numbers will lead to dollars in arbitration and free agency.  

The opportunity to make more money is in the NL West, not the AL East for a pitcher.  Quite frankly, I’m always shocked when a pitcher decides the AL in these situations.  Would you?