Padres-Pirates trade sends SP to 13th MLB team

One-time All-Star Edwin Jackson holds the record for most teams played for with 14.

Hill, who agreed to a one-year deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates in December, turned 43 years old in March. He's 7-10 with a 4.76 ERA, 1.47 WHIP and 104 strikeouts across 119 innings pitched covering 22 starts. Hill's ERA is his highest since 2013 when he was a reliever, and his WHIP is his highest since 2014 (his most recent season pitching primarily out of the bullpen).

Though he'll likely slide in towards the bottom of the Friars starting rotation behind the likes of Blake Snell, Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish, the move is still a significant one that shows San Diego isn't giving up on making the playoffs this October.

They're in fourth place in the NL West at 52-55 and 8.5 games behind the division-leading Los Angeles Dodgers (59-45) while sitting five games out of a wild-card berth. The senior circuit's wild card standings are a huge cluster though, with the San Francisco Giants (58-49) currently holding the top spot, just 0.5 games ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies (57-49) and 1 game up on Arizona Diamondbacks, Miami Marlins and Milwaukee Brewers, who are all 57-50. The Chicago Cubs (53-53) are 3.5 games back of the final postseason spot, just ahead of the Padres.

Hill is in his 19th big league season and debuted with the Cubs on June 25, 2005. The soft-tossing southpaw went 8-7 with a 4.27 ERA and 1.30 WHIP during his third stint with the Boston Red Sox last year.

Hill was first selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 36th round of the 1999 MLB June Amateur Draft and was then picked by the Anaheim Angels in the seventh round of the 2001 event. Hill was chosen by the Cubs in the fourth round of the 2002 draft, three years before making his MLB debut.

One of the highlights of the Boston, Ma. native's 2023 campaign came in May, when he faced Detroit Tigers two-time AL MVP Miguel Cabrera, perhaps for the final time. The meeting came nearly 18 years after the duo first squared off during Hill's professional debut and when "Miggy" was a youngster with the then-Florida Marlins.

The 40-year-old Cabrera is planning to retire at the end of this season.