The Yankees kept their season alive this evening, knocking off the Guardians 5-1 to take their Division Series in five games. They advance to the AL Championship Series to take on the reigning pennant winners in Houston, starting tomorrow.
While New York is obviously happy to advance, they didn’t come out of today’s contest completely unscathed. Left fielder Aaron Hicks was knocked out of the game in the top of the third after colliding with shortstop Oswaldo Cabrera in pursuit of a shallow fly ball off the bat of Steven Kwan. Hicks left the field with just slight assistance from skipper Aaron Boone, but he suffered a left knee injury that’ll end his playoffs. After the game, Hicks told reporters he’ll need around six weeks to recover (via Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record). Specifics of the injury aren’t clear, but the Yankees announced he was headed for an MRI.
It’s the conclusion of what has been a disappointing season altogether for Hicks. The 33-year-old hit .216/.330/.313 across 453 regular season plate appearances, his second straight below-average campaign. Hicks had been one of the game’s better center fielders from 2017-20, but he’s seen his power production take a sharp downward turn over the last two years. He also got subpar marks for his defense in center field, leading the Yankees to turn to Aaron Judge quite a bit more up the middle than they had in prior years before acquiring Harrison Bader from the Cardinals at the trade deadline.
Hicks was on the bench for the first three games of the Division Series, but he did draw into the lineup for the final two contests. He started in left field for both Game 4 and 5, going hitless with a walk in four plate appearances out of the nine-hole. Cabrera, who’d been the left fielder for the first three games of the series, moved up to shortstop for the final two contests. That pushed Isiah Kiner-Falefa out of the lineup after some defensive miscues in Game 3.
With Hicks out, the Yankees could move Cabrera back to left field and pencil Kiner-Falefa back in at short. They also have Matt Carpenter as a corner outfield option, although Boone indicated before the ALDS he preferred to keep Carpenter as a bench bat during his first action back after a two-month absence due to a foot fracture. Utilityman Marwin González drew an at-bat in relief of Hicks this evening, but the Yankees aren’t likely to give him a playoff start after a .185/.255/.321 showing in the regular season. Designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton is also a possibility to assume some left field work, although it’s not clear whether the Yankees would run the risk of him playing defense for the first time since mid-July.
The Yankees acquired Andrew Benintendi from the Royals to solidify left field, but he’s been out since early September surgery to repair a fractured hamate bone in his right wrist. Boone indicated after tonight’s win he doesn’t anticipate Benintendi being active for the ALCS (via Andy Martino of SNY). The Yankees will have to formally announce their ALCS roster tomorrow, but it seems they’ll have to make due with their in-house outfield options against Houston.
It doesn’t seem likely Hicks’ injury will significantly affect his offseason routine. He’s under contract through 2025 and will presumably get a chance to compete for a starting job next spring, as the Yankees will have a hard time shedding any notable chunk of the $29.5MM that remains on his contract.
Damn
There have been a ton of infield/outfielder collisions this post season. I can’t recall seeing 3 collisions in a weeks time that we’re more scary to watch….
Thank goodness
I wonder if they will replace him with Oswald Peraza in the next round.
I hope so.
Peraza shouldn’t just be on the ALCS roster, he should also be the starting SS. IKF is useless and Cabrera will be needed in LF
IKF is useless based on what?
Based on his inability to hit a ball past the infield and his inability to field routine ground balls. Most people don’t view him with rose colored glasses anymore
He’s bad but not useless. Greg Bird was useless
It’s doubtful, unfortunately. With this series & the manner in which the games are structured, the Yankees will need to add one, possibly two, more pitchers. DJL said he took BP today and is ready to go again (although I doubt he’s right).
So, they will add Marinaccio and replace Hicks with DJL, imho. They should bring in Peraza for SS and let Cabrera take LF & then send Marwin or TLo down. But, they won’t.
I expect DJ to be left off the roster again so Peraza is very likely to be included. I also think they’ve realized that IKF can’t be trusted at SS anymore so I’ll be shocked if Peraza isn’t there
Ronk: For our sake I really hope you’re right. Peraza should’ve been on the roster to begin with.
Will they be replacing him with Clint Frazier?
He wants to be known as Jackson Frazier now. Either way he sucks balls.
Frazier was actually promising at first. I never forgot his walk off HR against Milwaukee in his rookie season. Legendary bat speed, but turned out to be Greg Bird 2.0
000 noooooo; We’re are don four nowh,
You misspelled dun fore ….
Have to imagine that might be it for him with NYY. Can’t see the yanks giving him a starting job next year.
I blame miscommunication for that play. What was IKF doing that far out into the outfield? Should’ve been Hicks’ ball that deep and close to the foul line.
It was Cabrera, not IKF. A rookie.
IKF was in the dugout…
How come crashbang got all the likes? hcmmike had it first.
It was Cabrera, not IKF.
My opinion is that Hicks has a strong tendency *not to get to those balls, because he doesn’t hustle. Hicks already blew two bloopers this series by lolly gagging, and Cabrera had a good angle and knew Hicks likely wouldn’t make it (in this case he did, obviously).
Most importantly, Pauly O’Neill spoke in those plays and said it’s on the OFer to watch because he’s running in, whereas the IF (Cabrera here) cannot see Hicks coming.
Both were calling the ball and neither could hear the other.
I used to love Hicks. I was one of those people who pointed out his WAR per games played being amongst the highest in the game for a few years there, which is clearly why the Yankees signed him to such a long but relatively cheap extension, but man this has been an utter dumpster fire of a contract and I think everybody involved wishes it was just over. I feel like there’s a part of Hicks that would be fine being medically retired to go play golf and collect $29.5M without having to deal with rehabs and training and road schedules etc. since there’s no way that $12M option gets picked up and he may be ready to retire by the time the contract ends anyway- he may be ready now. He may’ve been ready a couple of years ago already.
It’s curious that he knows he will be out 6 weeks… maybe he has been injured so much he’s now a doctor?
How can you have a payroll of over $200 mil and not have someone able to play LF? That’s like the easiest position to play. Teams have backup infielders and catchers playing there and the Yankees can’t find anyone? Where is Brett Gardner when you need him?
As an Astros fan this sucks. Was hoping for the easy out in the lineup
Lol well done
Wish we still had Miguel Andujar to play lady in the playoffs!
Left field! Damn autocorrect
I like the autocorrect version! Play lady
Off topic, but I have to say it: I wish Gleyber hadn’t done his mocking replication of Naylor’s rocking baby routine after the last out. Naylor made enough of a fool of himself without the Yankees having to stoop to that level, and the Guardians deserved respect, regardless of Naylor’s antics. They took the series to five games and played the Yankees tough to the last out. They have a very good young team and should have a bright future, and Tito is a mensch. If they had won, I’d have been rooting hard for them in the ALCS.
Leave the mockery to the fans in the stands. That’s their territory.
I think most people want anyone but the astros to make to the WS
Fink, although I understand the reason Gleyber did that and don’t think it was too inappropriate comparatively, I agree with you. This smacks of Judge playing NY, NY on his boom box next to the Astros locker room after their win in…..2017(?).
Anyway, like you said, that’s the fans’ job. I’m not gonna beat the guy over it, but yes, he should’ve been the consummate professional and handled winning with class. The pitchers already embarrassed Naylor by shutting him down. Gleyber just rubbed salt in the wound and it reeks of cockiness.
The boom box episode was at Fenway, but, yeah — it reminded me of that too.
Gleyber seems like a good guy and maybe a bit on the naive side, so he might’ve thought his teammates would like that little demonstration, but the classier route would’ve been to let the Yankees’ game answer Naylor, which it already had, very effectively.
Dang, man. Fenway, how in the world did I forget it was Fenway…. The Astros got me all messed up already! Lol.
Not with that team name. Now maybe if they were still Indians or spiders they would get respect.
It’s incredible to me that there’s anybody still grousing about the team name after their great season. They christened the Guardians name with a terrific season that exceeded all preseason expectations. It’s a new day. Move on with your life.
too much chit?
@Clip working his Jobu magic. First Chappy, now Hicksie.
Does Hicks know he’ll never wear the pinstripes again?
My money is on him returning unless the Yankees eat $15M or attach an interesting prospect.
He has like 3 years left on his deal. Why would they just DFA him
Who is the baby? Who is rocking the baby? Which one is the Daddy? Does the baby have a Daddy?
There must be a Herschel Walker or Sean Kemp joke to be made.
How’s that Andujar DFA working out for you Yanks?
Well they’re about to be in the ALCS so I suppose it’s been ok.
Andujar is horrendous
Activate Peraza and play him at short. Cabrera back to LF.
That short LF region was a black hole all series.
As bad as he is at least he didn’t get a leg tattoo infection and then not show up for his team like that selfish relief pitcher…
Best possible scenario, but the will not promote Peraza, imho. DJ is coming back to flail in the box.
A disappointing season? A .231 career hitter hit .216 this year which is 22 points higher than last year. Seems like 2022 was much better than 2021 for this guy
You’re not wrong, but Hicks said he was going to have a 30/30 season this year and he sucked again. So, objectively, he had a disappointing season considering his goals.
With Hicks gone, the smart move for the Yankees is to move Cabrera back LF and promote talented prospect Oswald Peraza to short. He looked comfortable and capable there in the final days of the regular season.
i think Boone should start him anyway…. I got a feeling he’s due!
Addition through subtraction
Too bad for Hicks. He will be with the Yankees because he has virtually no trade value. He’s not a bad player, but not the star that people expected when Twins drafted him in the first round. He had very good age 27 and 28 years, but the extension was too much for for too long, He can still provide some value (some) on the field, but is more the type of guy a team breaking it down gets on a cheap contract and hopes to flip midseason. Not a front-line player. We used to mock Brett Gardner, but Gardner was far more consistent and better.
Hicks is a terrible player that shouldn’t even be in the big leagues. His stats don’t lie
Would rather have Marwin Gonzalez play so Hicks out now really doesn’t even matter. The guy should be in AAA
When the Yankees traded Montgomery for Bader, Cashman got a lot of criticism. But bolstering the OF by giving away a good starter turned out to be the right decision.
Gruß,
BSHH
Let’s face it. With or without Hicks we can’t beat the Astros not with the bullpen arms. Clark Schmidt? Oh my god.
I don’t understand some fans, preference of Marwin Gonzalez over Aaron Hicks. Gonzalez is the worst hitter on the Yankees.