For Yankees and Aaron Hicks, best place is splitsville
Yankees leftfielder Aaron Hicks reacts after he struck out swinging against the Philadelphia Phillies during the fifth inning of an MLB baseball game at Yankee Stadium on Monday, April 3, 2023. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
There was plenty of blame to go around on Tuesday night as the Yankees lost to the previously winless Phillies, 4-1, at Yankee Stadium.
Anthony Volpe, who had a crucial misplay at shortstop that extended the Phillies’ two-run fifth inning, accepted his share.
So did Michael King, who allowed two inherited runners to score after Volpe bobbled what should have been an inning-ending double play ball and only got one out.
Josh Donaldson, who popped out as the potential tying run for the final out, thrashed around his locker after the game, the at-bat probably still being replayed in his mind.
But the crowd of 35,392 (minus the many Phillies fans in the building), saved most of its vitriol for Aaron Hicks, who went 0-for-3, is hitless on the season and deserves to have his time in New York come to an end.
The Yankees probably won’t do it this early in the season, but they need to give Hicks a ticket on the Ed Whitson/Sonny Gray/Joey Gallo Escape From New York shuttle.
It doesn’t matter what the Yankees get back in return. It doesn’t matter how much of the more than $30 million Hicks is owed over the next three years the Yankees have to eat.
Trade him. Release him. Move on.
Hicks complained the other day that he doesn’t have a role on this team. He does: Most Unpopular Yankee.
Gallo held that dubious distinction last season before he was shipped to the Dodgers.
Gray was once so ill-suited for New York that Brian Cashman announced his intention to trade the righthander going into an offseason, which took away any leverage the general manager may have had in trade talks. Cashman dealt Gray to Cincinnati.
And Whitson is the poster man for players who couldn’t hack it in New York. The righthander was so spooked by Yankee Stadium and its cranky fans that then-manager Lou Piniella decided to pitch him solely on the road for part of the 1986 season.
Mercifully, Whitson was traded to San Diego, where he went on to have four fine seasons.
Hicks — with the Yankees having no true leftfielder and with centerfielder Harrison Bader on the injured list — squawked publicly after he didn’t start the first three games of 2023.
Hicks didn’t say this, but we’ll say it for him: Manager Aaron Boone starting Isiah Kiner-Falefa in centerfield on Sunday for his first big-league outfield appearance had to be a blow to Hicks’ ego and confidence. An almost unfair blow.
Hicks, whatever else he is, is a career outfielder, and used to be a decent centerfielder. To look out from the bench and see last year’s shortstop starting the third game of the season in center while Hicks hadn’t yet gotten onto the field except for one pinch-hit appearance had to be demoralizing.
Hicks is clearly not the player Cashman thought he was signing when he gave him a seven-year, $70-million contract extension before the 2019 season. It happens. Better to cut him loose now than make Hicks suffer through more nights like Tuesday.
A night earlier, on Monday, Hicks heard some boos while going 0-for-3 with a walk in his first start of the season. But the Yankees thrashed the Phillies, 8-1, so Hicks’ struggles were an afterthought.
On Tuesday, the Yankees were held to two singles over the first eight innings and trailed 4-0 going into the ninth. Were the boos spread out evenly among the nine Yankees in the lineup, most of whom were swinging just as feebly as Hicks?
Of course not. Hicks heard most of them. After he popped up in the second. After he struck out in the fifth. After he grounded out to open the eighth.
Hicks, who is usually one of the most accessible Yankees with the media, was not available for comment after the game.
Following the strikeout, captain Aaron Judge went over to Hicks in the dugout to console him.
“It’s just being a teammate,” Judge said. “Talking to him . . . It’s early in the season. People are going to struggle. You struggle now in April or you struggle in August. Stuff like that happens. So it’s about regrouping, moving on.”
Judge meant moving on to the next at-bat.
In Hicks’ case, it’s time for him to move on from the Yankees.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
