The New York Yankees are transferring on from longtime outfielder Aaron Hicks after eight years. The group introduced Saturday that Hicks has been designated for task. By the time reporters had been allowed into the clubhouse, he’d already cleaned out his locker, packed his baggage, and was saying goodbye to his teammates.
Hicks, 33, hit simply .188/.263/.261 over 28 video games this season. He’d proven some indicators of life on the plate just lately, going 6-for-15 in his final six video games, however that wasn’t sufficient to erase six weeks of relative flailing. The Yankees traded for quick outfielder Greg Allen on Friday evening, and to open up a spot on the 26-man and 40-man rosters, DFA’ing Hicks made probably the most sense.
The Yankees traded for Hicks in November 2015, snagging him from the Minnesota Twins, the place he’d been since they drafted him within the first spherical in 2008. Hicks struggled with both his well being or his hitting in his first few years with the Yankees, however in 2018 he hit .248 in 137 video games (nonetheless probably the most of his profession), together with 27 dwelling runs.
That strong and regular season is what led the Yankees to signal him to a seven-year, $70 million contract in April 2019. Unfortunately, the long run would not repeat the previous. He missed large chunks of 2019 and 2021 resulting from accidents, and would have missed a lot of the 2020 season had it not been shortened by COVID-19, giving him extra time to heal. Hicks did play 130 video games in 2022, however ended up hitting .216. The Yankees nonetheless owe him greater than $20 million for the ultimate 2 1/2 years of his contract.
Aaron Hicks has spent the final eight years of his profession with the New York Yankees. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
“It is what it’s,” Hicks stated through the New York Post. “It’s a part of the enterprise aspect of it. Just bought to maneuver on to the subsequent chapter. This is an excellent baseball group. It type of appeared prefer it wasn’t understanding for me. Obviously with the choice they determined to make, perhaps elsewhere may be a bit bit higher.”
Of all of the groups that would use hitting assist proper now, the San Diego Padres could also be the most effective vacation spot for Hicks. They’re 20-25 and simply misplaced Manny Machado to a hand damage. And so far as a change of surroundings from New York, cannot get a lot completely different than San Diego.
