IIRC Seattle had a worse situation at catcher than the Twins--so why is anyone happy-dancing at the acquisition of a catcher fired from the Mariners farm system?

To be fair, while the Mariners obviously are not high on John Hicks anymore, they may have been trying to sneak him through waivers, at arguably a slightly better time than the Twins attempts with Achter and Pinto.

 

I don't mind the Hicks claim at all, as long as we are willing to drop other guys from the 40 man roster yet this winter.

I'd think Tonkin would be a candidate for low value trade/waiver too. He hasn't produced and the Twins don't seem to trust him either.

With the two option years, Hicks will be able to shuttle back and forth from Rochester, if needed. In addition, he would be the third catcher in September. It sounds like his defense is really good, which is the most important thing for a guy in that role.