Chad Jennings

cjennings@lohud.com

Back in January, Brian Cashman described the process of establishing and executing an offseason trade. Specifically, he went into detail about the Yankees’ deal for Aaron Hicks.

It starts with assessment, he said. The Yankees’ decision makers spend one day evaluating each organization, “finding out what our perceived weaknesses they have would be … and what we might want from that organization.”

Next is communication. In some cases, that means reviving past conversations – “I’ll circle through (talking to) teams that have already whispered players that may be available,” Cashman said – but after the strategy meetings, the Yankees will have specific targets in mind, linked to specific trade chips that might be of interest.

In the case of Minnesota, the Yankees determined two things:

The Twins might be willing to part with Hicks because of other outfield options, and Hicks might fit the Yankees because of his proven success as a right-handed hitter, his relative youth and his lingering upside as a switch-hitting, first-round pick showing signs of continued improvements. The Twins might also have a soft spot behind the plate. This was an outside interpretation, so it might have been wrong, but the Yankees had pinpointed the Twins as a team that might be interested in some of the Yankees’ upper-level catching depth. And they had enough faith in other options to make John Ryan Murphy available in the right deal.

“(They said), we’re looking for backup catching,’” Cashman said in a January YES Network interview. “We had already deciphered that. We had already looked at what we could possibly do (in a trade) for Murphy. Hicks was one of the names I threw out right away because we had already prepared the way we did. About a month later, (Twins general manager) Terry Ryan swung around, and what he’d said no to earlier, he said yes to later.”

So, with that, the Yankees had their man. Their analysis of the Twins priorities had proven correct.

What’s still up for interpretation is their analysis of Hicks, Murphy, their own catching situation and their own need for right-handed help in the outfield.

With Hicks currently in Minnesota, this seems to be a good time to look back at the Yankees deal for Hicks and whether it’s worked. It’s a complicated question, mostly because neither player involved as been nearly as good as expected.

Aaron Hicks

The idea that Hicks could hit lefties was perhaps the safest part of this trade. He had an .870 OPS against them last season, and he’s shown a tendency to thrive from the right side of the plate throughout the minors and even during his first two big league seasons. His overall production had also shown steady progress in recent years.

Essentially, Hicks could fill the Chris Young platoon role, but with more youth, a better glove, and with the potential to be useful against righties as well. Hicks has, in fact, produced a better OPS against right-handed pitchers, but he’s taken a staggering step back against lefties.

Maybe it’s the lack of regular at-bats? Maybe it’s a product of trying too hard? Maybe it’s the a quirk of a relatively small sample size (fewer than 60 scattered at-bats)? The fact he’s still just 26 is certainly a factor to take into consideration, as is the fact he’s outperformed the guy the Yankees lost in the deal.

John Ryan Murphy

If Hicks hitting right-handers wasn’t the safest part of this trade, then the safest part was probably this: Murphy would be at least a capable big league backup. He’d thrived last season, especially in the second half, especially against left-handed pitchers, and there was little reason to believe Murphy could not at least hold his own at this level.

But after just three hits in 40 at-bats, Murphy was demoted to Triple-A on May 6, and he’s been there ever since. Worth wondering if the Twins gave up on him too quickly, but Murphy hasn’t helped his cause much by hitting .209 with a sub-.600 OPS in the minors. His minor league OPS is lower than Hicks’ Major League OPS.

Still plenty of time for Murphy to right the ship and for this trade to change in the final analysis, but for the time being, it seems the Yankees sold high on Murphy, capitalizing on a breakout season, a decision that looks even better because of the players who filled his spot behind the plate.

The Yankees’ catching situation

This is the aspect that most stands in the Yankees’ favor. By trading Murphy, the Yankees put significant faith in Austin Romine (a previously dismissed catching prospect) and Gary Sanchez (the top catching prospect in the system coming off his own sort of breakout season). The Yankees made a bet that one of those two could fill Murphy’s shoes.

How’s that worked out? Well, Romine has reemerged as trusted backup catcher who’s been especially good against left-handed pitchers. No matter what happened this spring, would the Yankees have possibly given Romine the job over Murphy? Probably not. Sanchez, meanwhile, has been an offensive force in Triple-A. The Yankees might even have found another bit of upper-level catching depth because of Kyle Higashioka’s eye-opening year.

The Yankees made a bet that they would be just fine without Murphy, and that’s proven correct so far this season.

The Yankees’ outfield situation

It’s easy to look through the Yankees’ outfield depth and recognize the overabundance of left-handed hitters. They have plenty of left-handed fourth outfielder candidates, but Hicks was a good target because of his success from the right side.

Turns out, perhaps the Yankees had better right-handed options. Rob Refsnyder began playing the outfield again this season, and he’s been a helpful platoon player since coming back to the big leagues. Cesar Puello has also been a surprising right-handed bat in the Triple-A outfield, Tyler Austin has begun to hit again, and obviously Aaron Judge looms as a high-potential bat that’s starting to get hot again.

Would the Yankees have been better off with one of those alternatives in a platoon outfield role? In the short-term, it’s a viable question. None has Hicks’ defensive ability, but each might have exceeded his surprisingly low production against lefties.