Yankees bring back Tim Hill on a one-year contract

If you said the Yankees’ first transaction of the offseason would be to re-sign one of their relievers, that’d be pretty believable, but you’d probably assume it’d be David Bednar off his qualifying offer. Instead, it’s a bit of a surprise, as the Yankees have re-signed lefty Tim Hill to a cheap, one-year deal with a club option in 2028.

Hill has had a classic reliever career. A 32nd-round pick in 2014, he debuted with the Royals in 2018, was traded to the Padres for one-time Yankee Franchy Cordero in 2020, and spent the next few seasons carving out a niche as a funky lefty for San Diego until he appeared to hit a wall in 2023. Over the next year and a half, he pitched to a 5.60 ERA over 67…