Yankees Notes: Corbin, Sabathia, Payroll
A few notes on the Yankees, whom the archrival Red Sox eliminated from the postseason earlier this week:
- It’s “expected” that the Yankees will go after left-hander Patrick Corbin in free agency, sources tell Jon Heyman of Fancred. It’s notable but not surprising that the Yankees may pursue Corbin, as they’re in need of quality starters and he’ll be among the best on the open market. Further, the Bombers attempted to acquire Corbin last winter, and the New York state native explained to Bob Nightengale of USA Today in April that the rumors “excited” his Yankees-loving family. Regardless of where Corbin pitches in 2019, he figures to do so after receiving one of the richest contracts awarded during the upcoming offseason. The 29-year-old, a career-long Diamondback to this point, is coming off a personal-best season in which he logged a 3.15 ERA/2.47 FIP with 11.07 K/9 and 2.16 BB/9 over 200 innings.
- While Corbin may soon end up a Yankee, “it would appear” they’ll say goodbye to fellow pending free-agent starter CC Sabathia, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes. Heyman passes along different information, writing that a reunion “hasn’t necessarily been ruled out.” A Yankee since 2009, the potential Hall of Famer would be difficult to replace both on and off the field for the Bombers, with whom he turned in another fine season in 2018. Despite his age (he turned 38 in July), the big lefty posted a 3.65 ERA across 153 innings. ERA estimators such as FIP, xFIP and SIERA haven’t been as bullish on Sabathia’s work in recent years, though he’s so difficult to square up against that it has enabled him to defy serious regression. Sabathia finished fifth among all pitchers in average exit velocity against (84 mph) this past regular season, per Statcast. Because he’s still such an effective starter, Sabathia has made it known he’ll resume his career in 2019. While he did just undergo knee surgery Friday, it doesn’t seem as if it’ll affect Sabathia’s outlook heading into next year.
- For the first time in 15 years, the Yankees stayed under the luxury-tax threshold this season, David Lennon of Newsday notes. That means if the Yankees exceed the $206MM figure in 2019 (up from $197MM this year), they’ll pay a 20 percent tax for every dollar spent over the mark, as opposed to 50 percent. On paper, that puts them in better position to pursue top free agents such as Corbin, Manny Machado and Bryce Harper. But it’s not a slam dunk the Yankees – led by owner Hal Steinbrenner – will spend in excess of $206MM next year, as general manager Brian Cashman told Lennon on Friday: “I don’t want to speak for Hal, but my general feeling from him and for us has been not wanting to line the pockets of others to let them utilize that excess against us. It was mission accomplished in terms of the payroll this year, and taking away advantages that teams have been getting from us because we were exceeding those thresholds.” Cashman added, though, that he believes Steinbrenner’s “a very open-minded person” with respect to spending, perhaps leaving the door open for some big-money moves.
Poll: Will The Yankees Sign Manny Machado?
This has been the week from hell for the Yankees, whose season ended Tuesday at the hands of the hated Red Sox in the American League Division Series. Boston summarily disposed of the Yankees in four games, further cementing itself as the superior team in 2018 after it won the AL East with ease in the regular season, finishing with a 108-54 record to New York’s 100-62 mark. To make matters worse, the Yankees learned Friday that they’ll play a large portion of 2019 without one of their most valuable players, shortstop Didi Gregorius, who needs Tommy John surgery on his right (throwing) elbow. Only two of the Yankees’ position players posted a higher fWAR this year than Gregorius, who recorded a 4.6 mark in 569 plate appearances to rank eighth among big league shortstops.
Now, with the Red Sox potentially on their way to a fourth World Series title since 2004 and the Yankees having been dealt a brutal blow well before 2019 begins, the question is: How will the Evil Empire strike back? Well, if the Yankees plan to go big-game hunting in free agency – as they’ve done on many occasions – perhaps they’ll respond by signing the Dodgers’ Manny Machado. The four-time All-Star infielder, 26, is set to hit the open market, where he’s sure to become one of the highest-paid players in the history of the sport.
Even with a healthy Gregorius, New York would’ve been a speculated suitor for Machado, whom it chased at this past summer’s trade deadline before the AL East rival Orioles dealt him to the Dodgers. With Gregorius in the fold, Machado likely would have slotted in at third base in 2019, sending AL Rookie of the Year Candidate Miguel Andujar to first base or designated hitter. Andujar’s on the heels of a huge season offensively, but he was a butcher at third, finishing last among major league infielders in both Defensive Runs Saved (minus-25) and Ultimate Zone Rating (minus-16). Despite Andujar’s woeful season in the field, he may well remain at third next year if the Yankees add Machado, considering both Gregorius’ health and Machado’s preference to line up at short.
For the majority of his career, which began in 2012, Machado has played third, where he has been eminently successful. Machado has registered 84 Defensive Runs Saved and a 50.6 UZR at the position, while he has logged minus-10 DRS at short and a minus-6.1 UZR at shortstop, with all of the damage having come this past regular season (minus-12 DRS, minus-6.5 UZR) after he moved back to short. In spite of his defensive shortcomings, Machado served as one of the majors’ preeminent players in 2018, notching the game’s ninth-highest fWAR among position players (6.2) on the strength of his fourth straight 30-home run campaign. He’d give the Yankees’ already strong offense yet another formidable hitter, joining Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Hicks, Gleyber Torres, Gary Sanchez and Andujar, though the right-handed Machado wouldn’t provide the right-heavy lineup variety in terms of handedness.
Speaking of Torres, the Yankees may simply turn short over to him next year as they await Gregorius’ return and entrust the keystone to a far less expensive alternative to Machado. There are plenty of familiar veteran second basemen set to hit free agency in the offseason, including now-Yankee Neil Walker, though no one from the group is anywhere near the caliber of Machado.
For now, Machado and the still-alive Dodgers are focused on winning a championship, but it seems doubtful he’ll return to LA thereafter. The club has an excellent third baseman in Justin Turner and a great shortstop in Corey Seager, who missed most of 2018 on account of TJ surgery, after all. Thus, regardless of how the Dodgers’ season ends, it seems Machado’s destined to put on a new uniform in 2019. Do you expect New York to be the team that awards him one of the richest contracts in the history of baseball in the offseason, or will someone else win the much-anticipated derby?
(poll link for app users)
Will the Yankees sign Manny Machado?
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No 52% (10,007)
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Yes 48% (9,181)
Total votes: 19,188
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
AL East Notes: Cron, Dombrowski, Yankees
The Rays are “likely” to move on from 1B/DH C.J. Cron, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Though Cron, 28, smashed 30 homers en route to a career-best (122 wRC+) output at the plate, he’s averaged just 0.8 fWAR per season since debuting in 2014 for the Angels and and posted a meager .300 OBP against right-handed pitching in ’18, well below the benchmark for a quality regular at the position. The left-hand dominant Rays appear to be in the market for an “impact” right-handed bat, according to Topkin, and have assembled a tantalizing lot of youngsters from which to deal. It makes little sense, then, to keep Cron, whose $5.2MM projected 2019 salary (per MLBTR’s Matt Swartz) in his penultimate arbitration-eligible season would make him the team’s second-highest paid player in the upcoming campaign: in addition to him being relegated to near full-time bench duty in the event of an upgrade, Cron’s figure would almost surely constrict a perennially tight Tampa budget. Offensive-minded first basemen with plate discipline issues (Cron’s strikeout rate rose to a career-high 25.9% in ’18, with his walk rate still hovering below 7%) don’t figure to be in high demand on the trade market, so the Rays may be forced to non-tender him before the November 30th deadline.
In other news from around the division . . .
- Gunslinging Red Sox GM Dave Dombrowski, in a chat with the USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, offered some window into his rationale when dealing for left-hander Chris Sale prior to the 2017 season. “Everybody has to decide what they want to do,’’ Dombrowski said, “but for us, when you have a chance to win, you go for it. Sometimes, it’s painful. You can’t do both. You can’t protect all of your prospects and also trade for good guys. You’re not going to get Chris Sale unless it hurts a little bit. Everybody has to make their own decisions, but for us, it made sense, and he’s been just tremendous for us.” In an age of prospect hoarding, where close-fisted, analytically-inclined GMs are loath to part with top minor leaguers, Dombrowski stands as converse: his decades-long strategy of aggression has led to huge turnarounds in both Miami and Detroit, and, more recently, yielded seven division titles in the last eight seasons.
- Joel Sherman of the New York Post opines that the Yankees should sign Manny Machado – who’s rumored to have the club at the top of his wish list – to a shorter-term deal with a higher average annual value. Machado, who turned 26 in July, is one of the youngest superstars to hit free agency in the game’s history, and almost certain to command a deal that nears (or, perhaps, surpasses) a decade in length. Sherman, however, thinks the Yanks could sway the SS/3B with a five-year pact that guarantees a record $40MM per season; the club, after all, has been bit by lengthy contracts given to Alex Rodriguez, C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, and Jacoby Ellsbury in recent seasons, and a short-term deal (perhaps with an opt-out attached) would allow Machado to again hit free agency while he remains in the relative prime of his career. With shortstop Didi Gregorious set to undergo Tommy John Surgery and perhaps miss at least part of the 2019 season, and third baseman Miguel Andujar posting historically low defensive marks at third base (-25 DRS in 132 games), Machado certainly figures to be a prime target for the Bombers this offseason.
Quick Hits: Yankees, Diamondbacks, Rangers, Orioles
The Yankees were impressed enough with Aaron Boone’s first season at the helm to bring back his entire staff for 2019, tweets George A. King III of the New York Post. Boone made a number of changes to the staff after the 2017 season, promoting Marcus Thames to hitting coach and installing bench coach Josh Bard, third-base coach Phil Nevin and first-base coach Reggie Willits, among others. The 2018 coaching crew will get a chance to run it back after an impressive 100-win season and a second straight playoff appearance.
Here’s a couple other notes from around the MLB…
- The Diamondbacks are replacing their natural playing surface with artificial turf in advance of the 2019 season. Arizona’s baseball operations staff conducted in-depth research, finding their new dual-fiber surface provides performance and health benefits previously unavailable. The retractable roof at Chase Field made it increasingly difficult to maintain consistent growing conditions for their natural surface. Arizona will join Tampa Bay and Toronto as the only franchises to utilize an artificial turf, though the Rangers are reportedly considering a similar surface for their new stadium. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes that Texas has yet to make a decision on the playing surface for the stadium set to open in 2020, but decision-makers within the organization will be closely monitoring the situation in Arizona.
- Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun writes that there’s symbolic value to the Orioles’ attempts to woo top Cuban prospect Victor Victor Mesa, even if they can’t close the deal. Considering the Marlins’ recent push to collect international spending pool money and their cultural ties to Cuba, Miami is now widely considered the favorites to sign Victor Victor Mesa, though Mesa’s intentions are as of now unclear.
- In a separate tweet, Meoli suggests that the Orioles summer trade of starting pitcher Kevin Gausman to the Braves was motivated by financial considerations. Though not initially presented as a primary concern, the trade cleared Gausman and Darren O’Day‘s contracts from the Baltimore ledger in 2019 and beyond. Gausman has two more seasons of arbitration eligibility remaining after making $5.6MM in 2018. Darren O’Day has yet to pitch for the Braves, though he’ll likely have a role in their bullpen next season as he’s under contract for $9MM in 2019.
CC Sabathia Undergoes Knee Surgery
Yankees southpaw CC Sabathia underwent knee surgery today, Jack Curry of YES Network was among those to cover on Twitter. It does not sound as if the news will impact the veteran hurler’s plans to pitch in 2019.
GM Brian Cashman says it’s the same procedure that Sabathia underwent this time last year, though it’s tough to find documentation of that. If Sabathia went under the knife in 2017, it may have been a repeat of a 2016 cleanup procedure. Or, perhaps, that two-year-old operation is what Cashman was referring to.
Regardless, the prior work did not prevent Sabathia from turning in a third-consecutive productive campaign. The 38-year-old has not tallied big innings totals of late, but it’s hard to turn up your nose at the output, particularly given his age. Since the start of the 2016 campaign, Sabathia has spun 481 1/3 frames of 3.76 ERA ball with 7.7 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9.
Most importantly, those solid results have come without any significant injury troubles. Though Sabathia has taken some time off here and there, he has averaged 29 starts annually since a 2014 campaign that was cut short by knee surgery. In that light, perhaps, the newest procedure represents just another part of an ongoing maintenance regimen that has proved to be successful.
Surgery aside, whether or not another reunion is to occur isn’t yet clear. But Sabathia certainly gave the Yanks everything they hoped for when they promised him $10MM for a single-season term last winter. And with the club making clear they’re ready to move on from rotation mate Sonny Gray, it seems there’ll be plenty of room for Sabathia to fit in the payroll and the rotation if the club so wishes.
Yankees Will Shop Sonny Gray This Offseason
Sonny Gray‘s tenure with the Yankees hasn’t panned out nearly as well as the organization had hoped, and general manager Brian Cashman candidly told reporters Friday that he plans to explore trade scenarios this offseason (Twitter link via Newsday’s David Lennon). “We’re entering the winter open-minded to relocation,” Cashman said of Gray. “…It’s probably best to try somewhere else.”
It’s highly atypical to see a baseball executive display that level of candor when discussing a potential trade of a player, but the writing has been on the wall for quite some time now. Gray was dropped from the team’s rotation amid considerable struggles this summer, and the Yankees didn’t carry him on their postseason roster.
Acquired in a high-profile trade that sent Dustin Fowler, Jorge Mateo and James Kaprielian to the Athletics in July 2017, Gray gave the Yankees 65 1/3 innings of 3.72 ERA ball down the stretch that season. He was far more homer-prone than he’d been in Oakland — perhaps to be expected given the radical shift in his home park — but the 2018 season was an ugly one for Gray. In 130 1/3 innings this season, he posted a 4.90 ERA with a career-worst 3.94 BB/9 mark and a career-high eight hit batters.
To his credit, Gray notched an 8.49 K/9 mark, maintained the velocity on his fastball (93.3 mph average), generated a solid 10.1 percent swinging-strike rate and induced grounders at a characteristically strong 50 percent clip. Nearly all of his struggles were confined to pitching at Yankee Stadium, where he turned in a ghastly 6.98 ERA and allowed 11 home runs in 59 1/3 innings. When pitching away from the Bronx, Gray logged a strong 3.17 ERA and yielded just three homers in 71 innings of work.
That home/road disparity, paired with Gray’s track record and relative youth — he’ll turn 29 in November — should make him a popular buy-low candidate for teams looking to supplement their rotation. He’s only controlled for one more season and comes with a projected arbitration salary of $9.1MM (courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz). However, Gray entered the 2018 season with a career 3.45 ERA and peripheral stats that largely backed up that mark. The former No. 18 overall draft pick was an All-Star in 2015 and finished third in American League Cy Young voting that season when he tossed 208 innings (his second consecutive 200-inning season) with a 2.73 ERA, 7.3 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9. He dealt with shoulder and forearm issues in 2016-17 but has avoided the disabled list in his time with the Yankees.
AL Notes: Salazar, Carrasco, Smoak, Didi
Indians righty Danny Salazar is slated to begin throwing next month, president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti tells MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian (Twitter link). At the moment, the club isn’t certain whether it’ll utilize the hurler as a starter or reliever, though it does sound as if the plan is to tender him a contract. Salazar will almost certainly command the same $5MM salary he did this year after sitting out all of 2018 with shoulder issues. That’s a decent bit of payroll to stake on a return to form, though Salazar has real upside on the mound and will also remain controllable for the 2020 season.
Here’s more from Cleveland and the rest of the American League …
- Speaking of payroll planning, the Indians will need to budget for a slight boost to the salary for fellow right-hander Carlos Carrasco. As Bastian notes on Twitter, the value on the club option in Carrasco’s extension rose by $750K (to $9.75MM) due to his fourth-place placement in the 2017 Cy Young voting. It’s not entirely clear from what’s known of Carrasco’s contract whether that prior voting performance also operates to boost the value of his 2020 option, which comes at a $9.5MM base price point.
- It’s also worth noting that the Blue Jays will have to open their wallets a bit wider to hang onto first baseman Justin Smoak. By virtue of topping 1,100 total plate appearances over the past two seasons, he has boosted his 2019 club option value from $6MM to $8MM. That still seems to be a reasonable rate of pay for a switch-hitter who has carried a .256/.353/.495 batting line and launched 63 home runs since the start of the 2017 campaign. Smoak could well profile as a trade candidate, depending upon how the Toronto front office decides to approach the offseason.
- Elsewhere in the AL East, the Yankees face a tough question on a player entering his final season of control. Joel Sherman of the New York Post argues that the team ought to strongly consider working out an extension with shortstop Didi Gregorius. Sherman wonders whether the recent Jean Segura contract (five years, $70MM plus option) might serve as a starting point in talks, rightly suggesting that it may well cost a bit more to lock up Gregorius. The 28-year-old is projected to earn $12.4MM in his final trip through arbitration and is a half-season closer to free agency than was Segura. He’s also fresh off of his best season, having posted a .268/.335/.494 slash with 27 home runs in 569 plate appearances. Outfielder Aaron Hicks and reliever Dellin Betances could also be considered for long-term deals, Sherman opines.
David Robertson To Be Self-Represented In Free Agency
In an interesting bit of free-agent news, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com tweets that veteran reliever David Robertson plans to represent himself in free agency this offseason.
The move comes as a surprise for the still-excellent hurler, who is wrapping up a four-year, $46MM contract. At the time, only Jonathan Papelbon and B.J. Ryan had secured larger guarantees as relievers. Even in the four years that have followed, only Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen, Mark Melancon and Wade Davis have landed larger total guarantees.
There’s little in terms of recent precedent for players representing themselves in major negotiations. Huston Street was self-represented when he negotiated his final contract with the Angels, signing for two years and $18MM. Pirates closer Felipe Vazquez, meanwhile, reportedly may have negotiated the bulk of his extension with Pittsburgh himself; Vazquez switched representation on multiple occasions in the year preceding that deal, with one player rep telling MLBTR at the time that Vazquez had been with as many as four or five different agencies in the calendar year leading up to his extension.
Digression aside, the 33-year-old Robertson (34 next April) will head into free agency with yet another strong case for a multi-year deal. While he won’t reach the $46MM heights of his most recent contract given his age, Robertson is still fresh off a quality 3.23 ERA with 11.8 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9 and a 45.3 percent ground-ball rate in 69 2/3 innings. He kept his ERA south of 3.50 and averaged at least 10.8 punchouts per nine innings in all four seasons of his expiring four-year pact, and his 2017 season — 1.84 ERA, 12.9 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, 2.57 FIP, 2.76 xFIP — was nothing short of outstanding.
Robertson’s 92.6 mph average fastball in 2018 was actually a slight bit better than it’s been in recent seasons, though he saw his opponents’ swinging-strike rate, chase rate and hard-contact rate all trend in the wrong direction. Even with those dips, though, there’s little reason to expect anything less than a two-year deal for Robertson at a time when relievers figure to be more coveted than ever before. And given Robertson’s uncanny durability — no fewer than 60 games and 60 2/3 innings pitched in a season since 2010 — teams may well view him as a less-volatile option than several of his peers.
Quick Hits: Counsell, Brantley, Britton, Yankees, O’s
After being shut out in the first two games of the NLDS, the Braves not only posted a crooked number on the scoreboard in Game Three, but staved off elimination entirely with a 6-5 win over the Dodgers. Ronald Acuna continued to make history, as the 20-year-old rookie sensation become the youngest player ever to hit a grand slam in postseason action. Game Four is set for Monday in Atlanta at 3:30pm CT.
As we look forward to three playoff games tomorrow, here are some items from three teams still active in the postseason…
- The Brewers made Craig Counsell‘s continued employment as manager a requirement for any general manager candidate in 2015, owner Mark Attanasio told Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We interviewed seven or eight candidates, and I told all of them that Craig was going to be the manager,” Attanasio said. “So, that would have disqualified a candidate if they had a problem with that….That was a precondition to the job.” Counsell has paid off his employer’s faith by leading the Brewers into the NLCS, and quickly impressing observers along the way — eventual new GM David Stearns, the Brewers’ roster, and fans in Counsell’s home state of Wisconsin.
- Two shoulder surgeries and a right ankle injury limited Michael Brantley to just 101 total games in 2016 and 2017, limiting his productivity and sidelining him for all of the Indians‘ run to Game Seven of the 2016 World Series. That long recovery period has made this season all the more special for the outfielder, who rebounded to hit .309/.364/.468 and 17 homers over 631 plate appearances and 143 games while helping the Tribe reach the postseason. “When you go through basically almost a two-year rehab, you don’t always know that you’re going to come back,” Brantley told MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian. “Every day that I’m there to be with my teammates, that I’m healthy enough to be in that lineup, where I can joke around and know that I’m going out to left field to play with these guys, I’m very appreciative. I don’t take it for granted.” Monday, however, could mark Brantley’s last game in a Cleveland uniform if the Tribe is swept by the Astros, as Brantley will be a free agent at season’s end.
- “There’s a gigantic difference in how we use analytics here compared to Baltimore,” Yankees reliever Zach Britton told Fangraphs’ David Laurila. After coming to New York from the Orioles in a trade deadline swap, Britton was presented with lots of personally-focused data. “I’d never been exposed to that amount of information,” Britton said. “And it’s not just ‘Here’s a stack of stuff to look over.’ …. I don’t want to get into specifics, but some of it is how my ball moves, both my sinker and my slider, compared to different hitters’ swings. It kind of opens your eyes to things you maybe didn’t think of when you didn’t have that information.” The Orioles are known to be looking for a more analytically-minded figure in their new general manager, though the team has a long way to go to catch up to the Yankees, who are known to have one of baseball’s best information departments. If Britton’s comments sound similar to Justin Verlander‘s reaction to joining the Astros last season, it isn’t a surprise, as Britton noted that “If you look at the teams in the postseason, most are well-known for their analytics departments, especially the Astros.”
Yankees Notes: Voit, Bird, Hicks
The latest on the Yankees, who will try to draw even against the archrival Red Sox in Game 2 of the American League Division Series on Saturday after dropping the opener Friday:
- Luke Voit may be on his way to becoming an “increasingly legitimate answer” at first base for the Yankees, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post observes. Acquired in what was then a low-key trade with the Cardinals in July, Voit slashed an astounding .322/.398/.671 (187 wRC+) with 15 home runs in 161 regular-season plate appearances, also posting the majors’ leading expected weighted on-base average (.440) among those with at least 150 PA. The 27-year-old continued to stand out during the Yankees’ first two playoff games – including their wild-card win over the Athletics – and general manager Brian Cashman said Friday (via Davidoff): “He’s certainly exceeded my expectations. He’s batting close to the middle of the lineup in the postseason. That’s pretty impressive stuff. And he’s certainly taken advantage of his opportunity playing here. I’m thankful for it.”
- Voit was on New York’s “radar” before it acquired him for relievers Chasen Shreve and Giovanny Gallegos, Cashman revealed, adding that “our analytics crew had noticed him early on. In a lot of our meetings last year, he was someone we coveted from St. Louis, and we finally matched up.” Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe sheds more light on the Voit addition, writing that assistant GM Tim Naehring has credited both the Yankees’ scouting staff and fellow AGM Mike Fishman – an “analytics guru,” per Cafardo – for the move. A 22nd-round pick of the Cardinals in 2013, Voit totaled just 137 PA with them – during which he batted a mediocre .240/.307/.432 (93 OPS+) – prior to the trade.
- While Voit looks like the in-house favorite to start at first for the Yankees in 2019, Cashman’s not ready to give up on the 25-year-old Greg Bird, who has battled injuries and inconsistency during his 659-PA career (via Davidoff). “The way his season played out has been a head-scratcher. But the great thing about our game … is he’ll go home and try to regain all the accolades that were coming his way with performance and that can start next spring,” Cashman said of Bird, who hit an ugly .199/.286/.386 (81 wRC+) with 11 HRs in 311 trips to the plate during the regular season.
- Yankees center fielder Aaron Hicks aggravated his right hamstring Friday, forcing him to exit in the fourth inning, but it seems he dodged a serious injury. While Hicks won’t start Game 2 in Boston, he’ll be available off the bench, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com relays. Manager Aaron Boone said he “wouldn’t hesitate” to use Hicks, whom Brett Gardner replaced Friday and will once again fill in for on Saturday.