According to an official team release, the Yankees have placed center fielder Aaron Hicks on the 10-day injured list with a right flexor strain and have returned left-handed pitcher J.A. Happ from the paternity list.
For the Yankees, the injury woes continue unrelenting, with Hicks making his second trip to the injured list this season. The outfielder, playing out the first year of a seven-year extension signed this spring, has been limited to just 59 games this year. With an apparent elbow issue, his departure from last night’s game certainly inspired some nervousness in New York. However, as James Wagner of the New York Times notes, the silver lining in the situation is that there’s no damage to the ligament, meaning that Hicks will avoid Tommy John surgery. He’ll be shut down from throwing, with the Yankees hoping that a 2019 return is still in the cards.
Happ will be activated in time to start Sunday’s series finale against the Red Sox, with the Yankees seeking a sweep. He’ll be opposed by David Price, who was likewise activated from the paternity list on Sunday.
In this equation, another name that bears mentioning is Clint Frazier‘s. Evidently, he isn’t the immediate replacement for Hicks, but he could get another shot down the stretch, depending on the extent of Hicks’s injury. As it stands, it’s hard to find room for the promising 24-year-old on the Yankees active roster. With Hicks out of commission, it appears that Brett Gardner will assume the center field duties, with Mike Tauchman slotting into left field and leaving Cameron Maybin as the team’s fourth outfielder. Both Tauchman and Maybin have been revelations, making it hard to justify demoting either.
Unbelievable! Aaron Boone is the only Yankee that hasn’t been on the IL!!!!
Give it time
Maybe they should change the team name to the Injurees?
Even their announcer went on the IL this year.
Both Kay and Sterling!
If it really is just a mild flexor strain, this is actually very good news.
Unless all flexor strains are mild…I didn’t see the word mild in this article…
I suppose I meant mild in relation to the potential need for surgery. Flexor strains are often correlated with ucl issues and TJ surgery. He may very well still be in that boat, but the fact that it isn’t stated outright leaves me hoping it’s “mild.”
Let’s all just wait and see what more comes out before arguing semantics.
I’m sure mlbtr will update with this shortly, but nevertheless, from Bryan Hoch:
“Aaron Hicks will be shut down 7-10 days from throwing, then ramp up activity. Yankees were worried that it could be Tommy John, so this is considered good news.”
TJ surgery recovery time for non pitchers is 7-9 months. Gleyber Torres made it back and is fine. BUT Hicks is eight years older. A career full of injuries and underachievement has — after his one really productive season in ‘18 — reverting to the norm.
In 1002 ab’s since 2017, hicks has posted a 121 ops+, accounting for 9.8 bwar. He was in the midst of a slump when he went on the dl, skewing his numbers this season a bit, but still posted a respectable 102 ops+. I buy the injury concerns for sure, but otherwise that’s a bit alarmist and simply incorrect. His “norm” prior to his breakout was far below league average.
Keep in mind that Gleyber’s wasn’t his throwing arm though.
@ctyank7 Hicks last 2 years have been very good. I didn’t think this is any long term setback at all. Just rust. He still hits with power and draws walks. Problem is getting him to be healthy for a long period of time.
Why not compare Hicks to Didi? Didi is 6 months younger and had Tj on his throwing arm.
Went under the knife in October, back in the bigs playing in June. 8 months.
Hicks is injury prone and everyone is different, but neither guy is old.
Gleyber is very young. Odd comparison when Didi just had this done.
well it’s not a forgone conclusion he needs TJ.
I looked at the Hicks contract. . . Why. ?
Because the yankees have the greatest evaluation team in baseball.
Bahahahahahahahaahaahahaahaha
Yawn.
Melchez,
Yanks are really in your head, aren’t they?
I guess all those beatings they’ve given the Twins are hard to get past.
Nah, I’m a tiger fan. Looking forward to making it to the playoffs to beat you again.
again? what was that? 14 years ago? I think 8 mile came out around that time. keep hope alive.
For a team like the Yankees, it’s a low-risk gamble with a big payoff potential. The jury is still out on this one. I would still do the contract again today.
Fair Enough. Seems like another Brett Gardner deal. Useful outfielder. Same timeline just about. Same money spent just about. 10 mil a year. Less than 5 percent of payroll. A semi foundational player. . .
How’s his defense. ? Of course have to play healthy for the contact to be good
Waste. Of. Money.
Just curious if Hicks is repped by the same people who conned the Yanks into the franchise crushing Ellsbury deal??
Franchise crushing? It’s an inconvenience at worst. They’re getting paid from insurance anyway even if it does count against their cap.
He speaks like a true front runner—a Yankee fan-who probably posted at ct-soxfan last year. Way too much drama and projection of negativity.
Enjoy the Sweep possibility tonight—it will effectively end the Red Sox series.
Why not? He had two back to back good years.
“He had back to back good years” Dude he played 88 games in 2017. Another reason is the most games he’s ever played in a season was 137. This year he’s played in 59 games. He’s too injury prone.
contract is done so no need to debate whether he’ll earn it. still one if the best cf in baseball.
I think you mean one of the best. He’s certainly not “if the best cf in baseball” I still can’t take you seriously with that username. Word up
@stevenChinwood
Meant “one of the best”. You certainly don’t have to take my word for it broski. Go to fangraphs. Limit the years to 2017-2019. Put a minimum of 500 PA and sort if by CF. Hicks, despite only playing 284 games the past 3 years his WAR ranking is #9. Yeah, he’s that good . 3rd highest walk rate (14%). 11th highest OBP (11th) and above average defensive metrics.
Eh, its only 10mil a year. All things considered, thats fairly cheap for an above average OFer. Of course, the reason they got him so cheap is because of Hicks’ injury history. Far worse players make way more annually than Hicks
Not surprised to see you over rationalize something.
How dare I.
Look if i wanted to spout ridiculous hot takes based on knee jerk reactions i wouldve just copy/pasted everything you have said.
word.
Or you could just go to Baseball America, MLB.com, and ESPN to learn something. Facts about his career aren’t ridiculous simpleton. I’ll try to make it easier for the famous Greg Bird apologist.
Keeping it vague yet dismissive so that you can feel like you won an argument without actually having to say anything, are you now? Youre a fool and always will be.
Aaron Hicks is a good player but one that is injured a lot. Every player has their pros and cons. If i were like you I’d just say that every player is either one giant pro or one giant con.
“durrr im just listing facts durrr”
Yeah, you list like two facts and then make ridiculous implications based on what isnt even half the story. You do this time and time again. Also, why would I go to ESPN to learn anything? They are generally geared for the simpletons that you think you arent. Is that where you get your awful opinions from?
“DURRR u onCe sed to giv Bird a shot DURrR”
to this day you still try to misrepresent the points I made about Greg Bird because you are a pathetic loser.
Exactly
They should see if there’s a taker for Happ this winter. Yankees have 3 players with serious injury histories, Stanton, Paxton, and Hicks.
Happ for Randal Grichuk. Straight up.
Jays lose that trade too
Here we go again the yankers really suck lol
And the Twins still can’t beat them in a meaningful game.
Hey tf368-did you go to the last two games when the Yankees damaged the twins pitching staff?
damage? we sent their staff to therapy. right now someone’s pointing to a doll asking them “where did they touch you”?
I wasn’t even aware Happ was on leave. Almost wish that his wife had sextuplets and he would be gone longer with the way he’s been pitching.
And yet, Clint Frazier remains in AAA…
People keep mentioning this, but the Yankees already have four outfielders, all of whom are producing.
When you burn bridges while standing in the middle of them…
Yup.
Also, if he spends about 30 more days in the minors, the Yankees get another year of control.
Yup-except the real reason is that they already have four outfielders. If they need a 5th he will be up.
In the meantime he is being drilled on positional defense as well as hitting the cover off the ball.
He is still waiting for the tow truck……
For those asking why the Yanks signed Hicks to a 7/$70 contract.
There aren’t any top center fielders coming on the market any time soon. Even if there were, we see how Hal feels about big free agent contracts.
Most importantly, Hal is obsessed with cost control and managing payroll.
They probably felt they were locking up Hicks for the rest of his career, he could move to the corners in 3-4 years and be the new Gardner.
I also bet they factored in his inability to stay on the field. They probably figured 100 games of Hicks at $10 mil per was a good deal.
Same goes for Severino. There was no need to buy out his arb years, but Hal was looking to save a few mil a year and get some cost certainty.
Rather than sign Corbin, they allocated $110 million to Hicks and Severino. I’m interested to see how it works out.
@horace I disagree. It simply made sense to lock Hicks and Severino up to team friendly deals.n They did what every other smart team would do. I don’t agree that Hal is cheap. I do think it’s smart to try and get value. Yanks will pounce on the right situations.
The cost of one fWar is more than $8m. In 2019, Hicks has produced 0.8 fWar in limited playing time so he’s not far off from earning his ’19 paycheck. I think most of us can agree that he’s productive when healthy. There are bad contracts the Yankees have had and the Hicks one isn’t one of them.
What this Yankees team has done this season is nothing short of freaking amazing. Going into tonight they have the best record in the American League and are tied with the Dodgers for the best record in all of baseball. Every starter with the exception of DJ have at least once been on the 10 day injured list. Nothing short of miraculous.
Trade Hicks In dont understand ehy they give it an extension that was a terrible mistake