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Back near the corner of the Blue Jays lush clubhouse is where Aaron Hill used to sit, his locker not far from Vernon Wells.

Not that long ago, they weren’t just the future or the players to build around, they represented the present. They were the talent, the leaders, the known commodities, the clubhouse voices of reason that every team needs. Solid people, solid players, and then just like that, they weren’t Blue Jays anymore.

Wells was sent packing mostly because his contract was more than onerous and because Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos found someone willing to pay that ridiculous bill. Hill was sent packing to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday, for not much really in Kelly Johnson, in a post-trade deadline waiver exchange of pending free agents, because no matter what was said in parting, the Jays have no interest in Hill as they continue to build piece by piece for their own playoff future.

And the truth on Hill: He played his way out of the future in Toronto.

He stopped hitting for average and for situations a year ago. He just stopped hitting this year, period. The baseball season is five months old: In April and May, he hit badly. In June, July and August, he hit worse.

Being a good guy, as admirable as that may be, only gets you so far. Eventually you have to do something on the field and for two straight seasons, Hill was the Seinfeld of ballplayers: He was about nothing.

“You guys haven’t been too hard on me, which I appreciate,” Hill said in his departing news conference. Polite to the end, but who would have expected anything different? The fans never understood what happened to Hill, and how could they. The coaches tried to come to grips with it, but never had a real tangible answer. Even Hill, himself, couldn’t explain how he went from all-star to also-ran. This wasn’t any kind of slump: This was a career spiralling downhill.

Even those yesterday trying to play the concussion card had their dates all mixed up. Hill had concussion troubles in 2008 and followed it up with his best season in 2009, with more than 30 home runs and more than 100 RBI. As bad as last year may have been, he still hit home runs. This year, nothing.

His offence disappeared. His defence disappeared. Despite his pleasant outward demeanour, his confidence disappeared. And with it all came the kind of inner-tension that baseball players need to avoid. Last season, Hill was grouped together with Adam Lind, then a struggling outfielder/DH, each of whom had been great the previous year, each of whom had signed long term contracts of consequence: Each of whom tried to find their games in a lost season.

Hoopstarr wrote:"Hill was the Seinfeld of ballplayers: He was about nothing."

Huh?

"and had a salary of $12 million US this year."

No he didn't.

Homer Jay wrote:I wouls just love to walk into Simmons office and tell him how to write an article on how Molina is the most dominant pitcher in the organization this year only to have him stare at me quizzically and say "Who? The Catcher?"

BigLeagueChew wrote:That show on TSN with him is also terrible,

Homer Jay wrote:I wouls just love to walk into Simmons office and tell him how to write an article on how Molina is the most dominant pitcher in the organization this year only to have him stare at me quizzically and say "Who? The Catcher?"