In addition to shortstop and first base, the Yankees have some decisions to make in the outfield, most notably center field as the oft-injured Aaron Hicks works his way back from a season-ending injury suffered back in May.
Hicks, who suffered a torn tendon sheath in his wrist, has shown an ability to be one of the more valuable center fielders in the league when healthy, hasn’t shown enough of a sample size that he can be regularly healthy, but he will take his next step towards that next month, as Brian Cashman confirmed on Thursday that Hicks will be playing winter ball.
“We’re all in,” Cashman said, via NJ.com. “Our assistant strength coach just saw him out in Arizona, and he looked really good. So he’s obviously working his tail off. He’s in tremendous shape. He’s put himself in a good position. He’s healthy. He’s going to play winter ball in the Dominican in December. We’re looking forward to him knocking some rust off and being ready to go come spring training.”
But that won’t stop Cashman from exploring potential upgrades in center field, as he initially alluded to earlier in the offseason.
“I just think I need to explore centerfield as a possibility, as well, if there’s things that make sense there for us just because obviously Aaron has had the last number of years of injury,” Cashman said. “I know the type of player is capable of being when he’s healthy and on the field. He just haven’t been able to stay on the field for us. So we’ll see. It doesn’t mean that he’s not going to be manning that position for 150 of the 162 next year. But I’m going to look at all opportunities to see if anything makes sense.”
Hicks has never played 150 games in a season over his nine-year career, and has played more than 100 just twice, most recently in 2017, when he hit 27 home runs and posted an .833 OPS over 137 games. When he went down with his injury last season, Aaron Judge eventually started seeing time in center field, with Joey Gallo and Giancarlo Stanton playing corner outfield spots, but Judge, given his own injury history, will be wanted primarily in right field in 2022. So Hicks’ health will be important to the team’s outfield depth, though the Yankees could still elect to bring back Brett Gardner for a 15th season, even after the 38-year-old hit .222 with a .689 OPS in 140 games last season.
“I haven’t spoken to Brett at all, but that’s not unusual,” Cashman said. “I deal with his agents. I had an early conversation. They had the first decision, which is they were not going to exercise the player option, which triggered our decision not to exercise the club option, which created this free agency. We have not in conversation since. They have conveyed that he wants to play.”
The Yankees also have Clint Frazier as potential outfield depth, but his grip on a starting spot slipped away last year with a brutally slow start coupled with lingering symptoms from his concussion, which limited him to just 66 games in 2021. Cashman said Frazier isn’t quite fully cleared for spring training just yet but is nearly fully healthy again, and whenever he is ready, he will have to battle his way back into a starting role.
“It remains to be seen. I just mentioned the guys that you’re going to count on starting right now, and he’s not in a starting configuration,” Cashman said. “Most important is his health and being healthy. Once that’s in play, which I believe it is, then his journey can begin again.”
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