Yankees and Twins Swap Aaron Hicks and J.R. Murphy
Youth is not the New York Yankees forte. Their average age last season was 31.6, and they have six players on their roster aged thirty-four or older, with Alex Rodrirguez taking the cake at thirty-nine.
To address this issue, general manager Brian Cashman went out and acquired outfielder Aaron Hicks from the Minnesota Twins for catcher John Ryan (J.R.) Murphy.
Hicks, tenty-six, was at one time rated as a top-forty prospect by most major media outlets, but very quickly failed to live up to the hype. He broke into the MLB in 2013 hitting just .192 in eighty-one games. The next season, Hicks again spent time between the disabled list, the minors, and the majors, but did produce slightly better numbers, hitting .215 in sixty-nine games. Last season was Hick’s best, as he saw his average jump forty-one points to .256 in ninety-seven games, along with thirteen stolen bases, eleven home runs, and eleven doubles. None of those numbers stand out much; in fact, those are pretty bad numbers by any measure. But the Yankees’ outfielders, Jacoby Ellsbury in particular, have a propensity for getting hurt and missing time.
Hicks is a good fielder and will provide the Yankees with another option in the event of an Ellsbury or Beltran injury. He also may lead the Yankees to not pursue free agent Chris Young, as Mason Williams and Slade Heathcott are also formidable prospects in the system.
The Yankees gave up catcher John Ryan Murphy, who immediately fills a need for the Twins. Murphy played in sixty-seven games for the Yankees this year, hitting a very respectable .277 with an also respectable .327 on base percentage. He saw just 155 at-bats, but thirteen out of his forty-three hits (30%) went for extra bases. Conversely, Twins catchers hit just .222 this season; starter Kurt Suzuki hit a meager .240 with a .296 OBP.
Murphy figures to split time, if not overtake some of Suzuki’s, at catcher. Suzuki, a former All-Star, saw his numbers sfall into an abyss last season.
Both teams address needs with the move, while still holding onto minor league assets to replace the traded players.
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