Aaron Hicks (Update: Signed by the Orioles to replace Mullins)

[owknows]

6 minutes ago, Mooreisbetter27 said:

Didn’t see he was… where’d this question come from?

Aguilar was released… which is pretty bad from the worst team in baseball. 

I watch an MLB roster site (MLB RADAR) that has been early and right about these transactions before...  I guess this is a test

They're listing him as DFA

Edited June 5, 2023 by owknows

[Ohfan67]

3 minutes ago, owknows said:

I watch an MLB roster site that has been early and right about these transactions before...  I guess this is a test

Tomorrow is an off day. Seems very unlikely that the Orioles would cut him loose so fast much less right after a game and before an off day. 

[owknows]

1 minute ago, Ohfan67 said:

Tomorrow is an off day. Seems very unlikely that the Orioles would cut him loose so fast much less right after a game and before an off day. 

Yeah.... I'm not judging the merits of it... just saying they have him listed as DFA

[Brian88]

14 minutes ago, owknows said:

I watch an MLB roster site (MLB RADAR) that has been early and right about these transactions before...  I guess this is a test

They're listing him as DFA

They also have Grayson and Givens still on the roster.

[Billy F-Face3]

So far so good for Hicks. He's certainly making me look wrong for disliking this move.... Which I will gladly accept as long as he keep playing well. Right now, the way things stand, I would advocate for him staying on the roster when Mullins comes back and finding a way to play him against the Yankees.

[Aristotelian]

4 hours ago, SilverRocket said:

Hicks has been impressive so far. Even the bad results have been on good at-bats where he's working the count. He had a .330 OBP last year, even if the rest of his bat wasn't good. If he keeps this up, I would prefer him to McKenna as a 4th OF when Mullins is back.

I could be on board with that. Can we have too many LH bats? Maybe it works if Westburg is in the mix?

[Ohfan67]

I hope Hicks has a great rest of the season and he especially crushes the Yankees. But unfortunately he will probably come crashing back to earth soon. I predict the Hicks experiment doesn’t last very long. Not sure how long not very long will be, but I think weeks not months is a good bet. 

[Sydnor]

Unless he performs absolutely terribly, I’d be very surprised if Hicks was not on the roster for the remainder of the year. First, Elias acknowledged that they were talking to Hicks prior to Mullins sustaining the groin injury.

Second, James McCann has been a right handed DH fairly regularly for the team. Hicks can play right and slide Santander to DH, removing McCann from the lineup. In his career, Hicks has a career 103 WRC+ against left-handed pitchers, and has a 110 WRC+ against them this year. McCann has a career 106 WRC+ against left-handed pitchers, and has a 42 WRC+ against them this year. Although McCann has been slightly better against left-handed pitchers in his career, Hicks has been significantly better in the last 3 years. I would bet on Hicks performing better than McCann.

Third, because they are dealing with players and agents, I just don’t think you sign a guy like Hicks to DFA him as soon as Mullins is healthy or to bring up a prospect from the minors unless he performs poorly. Even then, I could see it being more likely that McKenna (who I like more than most on the Board) is sent down, and Hicks takes over that role with slightly more playing time.

I could be wrong about all of this, but I think that given the above, and that he likely got some assurances when he decided to sign with the Orioles (because he could have waited for a different opportunity), Hicks will be on the roster for the remainder of the season absent extremely poor performance. I tend to think he will perform adequately because he was above replacement level last year and was trending above replacement level in May before NY DFA’d him. As a result, I hope Hicks performs well, and that he will build on the nice start he has had, though I’m certainly not counting on it.

[ScGO's]

A few things on Hicks after hearing Palmer muse on him during the broadcast.

He's not far removed from a pretty solid 2020. He's healthy. He's got play off experience. Even when he was struggling with the Yankees, the OBP was about 100 points hire than the Avg. 

I think he could potentially thrive in a part time role with the O's, especially since he doesn't have the stress of playing up to the contract he had with the Yankees. Maybe he is a true change of venue guy.

[OriolesMagic83]

Is Hicks' fielding good enough to cover CF?  I've been unable to watch the last few games.  What are impressions of his defense?  Not sure the O's can carry Hicks and McKenna on the roster long term, although some have said he could take Vavra's place.  He's had an interesting start will be something to watch what the O's will do if his performance craters.  You can't argue he's been a positive on the team so far.

[Malike]

7 minutes ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

Is Hicks' fielding good enough to cover CF?  I've been unable to watch the last few games.  What are impressions of his defense?  Not sure the O's can carry Hicks and McKenna on the roster long term, although some have said he could take Vavra's place.  He's had an interesting start will be something to watch what the O's will do if his performance craters.  You can't argue he's been a positive on the team so far.

He's been a CF for most of his career, he is capable of playing competent CF.

[Safelykept]

2 hours ago, Sydnor said:

Unless he performs absolutely terribly, I’d be very surprised if Hicks was not on the roster for the remainder of the year. First, Elias acknowledged that they were talking to Hicks prior to Mullins sustaining the groin injury.

Second, James McCann has been a right handed DH fairly regularly for the team. Hicks can play right and slide Santander to DH, removing McCann from the lineup. In his career, Hicks has a career 103 WRC+ against left-handed pitchers, and has a 110 WRC+ against them this year. McCann has a career 106 WRC+ against left-handed pitchers, and has a 42 WRC+ against them this year. Although McCann has been slightly better against left-handed pitchers in his career, Hicks has been significantly better in the last 3 years. I would bet on Hicks performing better than McCann.

Third, because they are dealing with players and agents, I just don’t think you sign a guy like Hicks to DFA him as soon as Mullins is healthy or to bring up a prospect from the minors unless he performs poorly. Even then, I could see it being more likely that McKenna (who I like more than most on the Board) is sent down, and Hicks takes over that role with slightly more playing time.

I could be wrong about all of this, but I think that given the above, and that he likely got some assurances when he decided to sign with the Orioles (because he could have waited for a different opportunity), Hicks will be on the roster for the remainder of the season absent extremely poor performance. I tend to think he will perform adequately because he was above replacement level last year and was trending above replacement level in May before NY DFA’d him. As a result, I hope Hicks performs well, and that he will build on the nice start he has had, though I’m certainly not counting on it.

Solid Post Just think it would be Vavra that gets moved aside and not Mckenna.

[Jammer7]

2 hours ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

Is Hicks' fielding good enough to cover CF?  I've been unable to watch the last few games.  What are impressions of his defense?  Not sure the O's can carry Hicks and McKenna on the roster long term, although some have said he could take Vavra's place.  He's had an interesting start will be something to watch what the O's will do if his performance craters.  You can't argue he's been a positive on the team so far.

He made an absolutely phenomenal catch two nights ago in SF. Ran back to the fence and had to jump and twist backward to catch a ball at the wall. One of the finest catches we’ll see this year. I have to admit that it surprised me, and he looked surprised too. I expected him to be injured afterward, but thankfully he was fine.

[terpoh]

8 hours ago, seak05 said:

Mullins, Cowser, and Hicks are all LH. The orioles love having platoon options. I posted this in cowsers’s thread, but I think the most likely demotion right now for Cowser would be Vavra (and then yes he plays LF and santander moves to 1b/dh)

Hicks is a switch hitter. Thats why I think McKenna is the one who could be optioned. Hicks solves the platoon issue and starts in CF against lefties until Cedric is back, and fills in for all of Hays/Cowser/Santander otherwise. I dont know if hes better than McKenna or not, but if the Orioles think he is, then calling up Cowser and allowing HIcks to take over the 4th OF role (that plays more than McKenna) then that is the route that makes the most sense to me. I think having Westburg get innings in the OF as well as obviously being able to play 3B/SS/2B is the potential replacement for Vavra.

[Moose Milligan]

This is hilarious. This board goes absolutely stone cold ****ing nuts when Hicks is signed because Mullins is on the 10 day IL and now that he’s been decent, people want to keep him.