Yankees Treatment of Aaron Hicks

[stringer bell]

While the Twins have gotten nothing out of John Ryan Murphy, the New York Yankees have given Aaron Hicks a considerable amount of playing time. Today Hicks is in the lineup again and this is his 74th game for the Pinstripers (out of about 90). While Hicks has played quite a bit, so far he hasn't hit. He's batting .197 with a .568 OPS through today. Hicks has spent a majority of his playing time in right field. It is interesting that Hicks isn't even hitting left handed pitching. He's only hitting .151 vs lefties with a .432 OPS.

 

Either the Yankees really believe Hicks will "find it" or they have given up on this season and want to give Hicks a real chance to show what he can do. The All-Star break is a game away and I find it almost surreal that the winningest franchise in MLB  history would have a regular corner outfielder below the Mendoza line this late in the season.

 

It is interesting to compare how the Yankees have handled Hicks compared to the handling of young Twins outfielders, including Buxton, Rosario, and Oswaldo Arcia. Hicks, like Arcia, is out of options and in his mid-20s. In a roundabout way, Hicks is replacing Alex Rodriguez, who has sat most days in the past two weeks while Hicks plays right field and Carlos Beltran supplants A-Rod as the DH. Apparently, the Yankees think their lineup is better with Hicks replacing a guy who has first ballot Hall of Fame numbers while the Twins seemed to think that guys in their organization were better with higher ceilings than Arcia (I do too).

 

I am having a hard time not gloating about Hicks. I have maintained since Hicks' rookie year that he couldn't/wouldn't hit enough to be a major league regular corner outfielder. Incidentally, Buxton's OPS this year is higher than Hicks. Time will tell if the Yankees patience and investment of playing time will pay off. I do wish Hicks well.

[TheLeviathan]

He won't ever hit, people will have to accept it. The Twins selling on him was one of the few bright spots this off season.

[gunnarthor]

About a third of those games are as a defensive replacement.  He's only started 50 games.  They pretty clearly see him as a 4th OF type.  I imagine both the Twins and Yankees are disappointed in how the trade has turned out so far.

[stringer bell]

 

About a third of those games are as a defensive replacement.  He's only started 50 games.  They pretty clearly see him as a 4th OF type.  I imagine both the Twins and Yankees are disappointed in how the trade has turned out so far.

He has started like 11 of the last 13 games, since Rodriguez was benched. He has just about 200 plate appearances while almost always hitting from the bottom of the order.

[old nurse]

When pitchers have more batting WAR than 4 of your main players by Fangraphs, your team has a problem. Starting pitching outside of Tanaka and Sabathia is past Twins Territory. The bullpen after Betance, Miller and Chapman is not amongst the finest, either

[Eris]

Beltran (who normally plays RF) hurt his hamstring about 2 weeks ago which is why Hicks has been seeing more playing time recently.  Hicks is only slightly worse than A-Rod at the plate but much better than Beltran in the outfield.  Beltran is hitting 0.297 and otherwise having a good year.

 

http://nypost.com/2016/07/04/carlos-beltrans-hamstring-may-actually-allow-a-rod-to-play/

 

 

 

(Note I should have quoted Stringer Bell's excellent comments above).