The Orioles announced that they have placed outfielder Aaron Hicks on the 10-day injured list due to a left hamstring strain, with fellow outfielder Ryan McKenna recalled from Triple-A Norfolk in a corresponding move. Hicks departed last night’s game after appearing to injure himself making a catch and it seems he’ll need at least 10 days to recover.
Hicks, 33, had been struggling mightily with the Yankees in recent years, eventually leading to his release in May. He quickly landed with the Orioles and has had a resurgence since then, having hit .252/.349/.435 in 152 plate appearances for a wRC+ of 119, indicating he’s been 19% above league average. A lot of that time has been spent in center field, with Cedric Mullins having spent much of June on the IL due to a groin strain.
Since Hicks took over in center and played well, it allowed the club to avoid a significant drop-off while Mullins was away. He was reinstated from the IL in late June but landed back there last week, again due to a right groin strain. Hicks jumped back into the regular center field job in the past week but now he’s joining Mullins on the injured list. It’s unclear how serious Hicks’ injury is, but Mullins is without a clear timetable and may not be an option until late in the season. The club will now seemingly have to proceed without either player for at least the next 10 days.
The position might now fall to rookie Colton Cowser, who has logged 38 1/3 innings there so far this year and has been given the start for tonight’s contest. Unfortunately, his first 49 major league plate appearances have led to a batting line of just .128/.286/.154. That’s obviously a small sample and he has much better numbers in the minors, but the O’s will have a bit less certainty at the position for the time being.
Cowser figures to be flanked by Austin Hays and Anthony Santander, with McKenna likely in a bench role. Infielders Adam Frazier and Ryan O’Hearn have also seen some time on the grass this year and could factor into the mix. If the O’s decide they need to supplement that group, they still have some time, with the August 1 trade deadline one week away. The club is 62-38, putting them 2.5 games ahead of the Rays in the AL East and clearly in buyer position.
FIRST HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In before Yankees fans claim its harder to play in New York than any where else
because they eat their own.
If he’s on the injured list, apparently it’s hard to play in Baltimore as well.
Maybe he can tear him sheath again, that friggin mess
Because it makes them feel special
Basically what took this long, for him to get hurt? I just hope it wasn’t his feelings.
Serves him right for playing so well out of NY. Lol.
What an arrogant clown. Yanks fan never fail to be pathetic.
I’d probably just go with a straight forward Cowser/McKenna platoon until either Hicks or Mullins is ready to return from the IL instead of going out and trading for someone like Bellinger.
They should trade DL Hall, Connor Norby, and Coby Mayo for Ohtani. They could do it this year. Do they want to win, or not?
Shohei Ohtani isn’t going to play CF, which is the issue at hand.
Mayo is also pretty close to untouchable for me (and I suspect Mike Elias feels the same way).
Do not trade away all the hard work over the last few years and the future for 3 months of a guy you have no chance of resigning. If you make the trade and don’t win it all, it cost you way too much.
The Orioles still have a top-5 system without those 3 guys. Go for it. And they do have some prayer of re-signing him. They have a $70 million payroll
There is no chance in hell that the Angelos ownership group would pay Ohtani what he will get in free agency. Zip. Zilch. Nada.
If they can get Othani by only trading those three guys and they don’t do it, it would be criminal. Hall isn’t a starter. Westburg, Henderson, Holliday, Ortiz and Pietro are probably higher on the infield depth chart long term over Norby and I really like Mayo but unless he learns a corner OF spot he doesn’t have anywhere long term either.
And they’d still have the best farm system in baseball
Trading for Ohtani would be silly bc those could be pieces for a long-term competitive team. Even if they win it all with him, the O’s won’t be be the favorites to sign him.
“Even if they win it all with him” that is the entire reason to trade for him. To win it all. You shouldn’t gatekeep “Prospects” until they’re middling relievers or .700 OPS types with questionable defense who are playing out of position. Win or gtfo
Thank you *Michael Scott.gif*
“If they can get Othani by only trading those three guys”
I would suspect that the Angels would want more. Replace Norby with Westburg and Hall with Povich, and you’re probably in the neighborhood.
Why trade for Ohtani? When you have the immortal Aaron Hicks instead.
Is Ohtani going to play CF?
@King Floch.
True, the Angelos family will not pay for Othani.
Unless…
By adding the best player in baseball to a insane contract, it increases the value of the Organization…that they wish to sell.
I’m saying, there is a greater than Zilch possiblity the Orioles sign him.
Sure, he doesn’t want to play on the East Coast, but in a trade he has no choice. In those 2 months, Baltimore has an opportunity to show him how great Baltimore is. (stop snickering)
Othani doesn’t like the East Coast, but he also wants his privacy. Baltimore can do privacy.
Dreams.
Trading it all away would be trading Holliday, Cowser, Westburg and/or Mayo for Ohtani. These mid tier guys in their system are expendable for a guy like Ohtani, especially with the landscape of the league right now. They shouldn’t overpay for guys by any means, but it’s okay to trade the extra prospects they have. Westburg, Holliday, and Gunnar is the infield for the next 7 years.
I think Hall’s stock is down so much right now that you hold if you think that’s fixable. Unless you find a team who really believes in him and pays more than I think he’s worth at the moment.
Sorry, there’s no chance they’d pay Ohtani around 50M/YR for the next 10 years. That AAV is close to what the wholeteam payroll is this year.
Win like the Angels in, no thanks.
Kjerstad, anyone?
Not on 40-man roster—makes it complicated. Ryan is easier to bring up and down right now.
He’s not on the 40 man roster and he can’t play CF, plus he only recently reached AAA and Mike Elias seems to want guys to spend a decent amount of time at AAA before calling them up to the MLB team.
I think we see Stowers again before any of the other spects. Hudson Haskin would probably be getting a call right now if not for the injury.
Hays could potentially cover CF for a bit if we did go Kjerstad though.
This was why I opened the article. All he has done is hit, hit, and hit more. Can’t wait to see what he can do. I get not wanting to start his clock, I guess, but I hope they’ll at least call him up before they’d consider trading for someone.
Been tearing it up in AAA.
Said in spring he’s the best pure hitter in minors.
Said a month ago he’s gonna be best hitter on the O’s for a decade.
All Heston has done since he was born is … hit
Next year you’re adding Heston and Means ( your best pitcher) just for starters adding to core already up.
Makings of a dynasty. Jackson knocking on door.
Andrew the Oriole McCutchen
Hicks is injury prone and he doesn’t recover quickly. The Orioles will need a longer-term solution based on how long they expect Mullins to be out.
He’s hurt bc he’s carrying all that money around that he swindled the Yankees out of
Hick injured? I’m shocked!! Shocked I tell you!!
WHO?! 🙂
It was inevitable.
Vavra. Would’ve brought up Vavra, not McKenna. Much better answer offensively then McKenna and can play infield too. Split Hays and Cowser in CF. Guys like Frazier, O’Hearn and Vavra help out on the corners. But per LordD99, going after someone longer term might be necessary.
Vavra’s been hurt since June.
Hicks being Hicks! On the IL yet again! WHAT A SURPRISE….enjoy Hicks! O’s fans.
Glad he’s not on the Yanks anymore.
We are enjoying Hicks. Came up big time when Mullins was on IL first go around. And he served/serving his role as that stop gap to Cowser. Plus, courtesy of the Yanks, cheap labor. Hoping his injury is short term of course. Love the amount of playoff experience he brings to the club. If Cowser continues to struggle and he and Mullins stay hurt; may have to go trade route?
Love the .216/.325/.340 post season slashline too?
The Bronx broke him, if you can squeeze anything out of him, enjoy.
Yep pretty brutal post season slash line indeed but, IMO, not nearly as brutal as Judges’ .139/.184/.490 in the 2022 post season. Hopefully, Hicks’ regular season contributions here will carry over to the post season. Get well young fella, get well!
Much smaller sample size, and has absolutely nothing to do with Hicks.
Not a smaller sample size. A player like Judge who gets all the hype, and deservedly so, is expected to perform in the moment regardless of time of year. That’s why he gets the big bucks. Post season slash line should resemble/mirror his regular season slash line. He layed a post season egg in 22. Period.
And this is relevant to this thread. Hicks played for the Yanks and like Judge had an ugly post season slash line issue. He gets to Baltimore and his slash line with the Birds is above league average and he’s got his K rate at around league average. Here’s hoping he gets healthy and continues to contribute with an above slash in to the playoffs and the ugly slash he had with the Yanks was just a curse of being a Yank. Fingers crossed.
One year vs several years is a smaller sample size. Do you even math?
Hicks has never hit in the post season and Judge didn’t cause that. Stanton has killed the ball while Judge was cold and that was also unrelated.
Would Stanton be Babe Ruth on the Os in the playoffs?
Funny, seems Hicks is on the first place team, and not on the last place team… but keep talking smack. You Yanks fans know no limits to your absurdity. No one laughs when your guys get hurt, but y’all can’t wait to mock your outcasts that perform better than your entire roster somewhere else
We need an AI Aaron Hicks. Then he’ll never be injured.
we all know he needs a few ‘social justice’ days off.
He will never start again. Cowser will start and stay starting.
Hicks actually played longer before hitting the IL than I thought he would when the O’s picked him up.
At least Hicks got injured making an out. Although I will say as soon as he landed and rolled over, an IL stint was coming.
McKenna is loved by Hyde for some reason.
I still can’t get over the drop in Boston to loose the game. McKenna is not the answer but a body until they can make a trade.(I hope)
I prefer not to trade for an OF’er. We have too many already. It’s just unfortunate timing that both Ced and Hicks are hurt at the same time. I’m good with giving Cowser every day CF playing time and show what he’s got until one of them can return, rather than trading for a CF.
Hicks is injured? Whaaaa?
He was busting it hard on a tough chance that he didn’t even fully catch, but somehow the Phillies missed it and was ruled an out. He played with his pants on fire for the O’s when they needed to recoup some of what they lost when Mullins went down the first time. It says a lot that they kept him around after Mullins came back. He earned it, but he seems to have lost some focus on some tough chances lately that Mullins probably makes look easy and has been striking out a bit too much recently. Time for Cowser to step up.
He strained the hamstring between his ears.
Stupid
And just like that, grass is green again…..