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Hicks for Murphy trade: 14 months later

DaveW

By DaveW
in Other Baseball

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Taildragger8791 First Round Pick

Taildragger8791

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But we are even with the Astros (first place) and ahead of the Cubbies! :). Our rebuilds are all on the same path, and level. :)

 

Cubs have a World Series and Astros are beating the pants off everybody this year (including us, in a humiliating sweep). I wouldn't say the Twins are on that level yet. And I wouldn't say our success is sustainable until they turn over most of the pitching staff with quality MLB arms, which is no small feat.

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DaveW All-Star

DaveW

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Cubs have a World Series and Astros are beating the pants off everybody this year (including us, in a humiliating sweep). I wouldn't say the Twins are on that level yet. And I wouldn't say our success is sustainable until they turn over most of the pitching staff with quality MLB arms, which is no small feat.

I think you missed the sarcasm :)

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jimbo92107 Ft Myers Mighty Mussels

jimbo92107

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I'm glad Aaron Hicks is doing well. It's sad that he needed to get away from Twins coaches in order to fix the real problems in his approach to hitting, which was far too passive. With his build and athleticism, Aaron Hicks should have been taught to swing the bat like Dave Winfield, not like some light-hitting utility infielder looking to squeeze out a ton of walks. The Yankees saw the offensive potential in Hicks, and coached him in the cocky, assertive Yankee Way. 

 

It's working. Go figure. Have a blast as a Yankee, Aaron.

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Deduno Abides First Round Pick

Deduno Abides

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This trade was emblematic of the values and thought processes of the two teams at the time. One team saw a player perceived as low floor, high ceiling and said to itself, "Let's see what we can do with him to help him achieve his ceiling." Another team saw a player perceived to be high floor, low ceiling and said to itself, "Let's see if he can achieve his ceiling." The Yankees wanted a high ceiling player and have helped him achieve it, whereas the Twins were OK sought a low ceiling player because of his perceived high floor, but have not been able to help him achieve even his supposed floor.

 

Further, it's kind of sad and ironic that going to New York City has shown to be a more comfortable environment. That's a real slam on the supposedly great environment that the lovable Terry Ryan was supposed to have created and the aroma of superiority that the thankfully now-silent Dave St. Peter conveyed.

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jokin Wichita Wind Surge

jokin

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... and the aroma of superiority that the thankfully now-silent Dave St. Peter conveyed.

 

Ha. And let's hope they keep DSP locked inside his cubicle for good. :ph34r:  No more "brilliant" overseas marketing-based intl. FA signings. :blush:

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jokin Wichita Wind Surge

jokin

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I'm glad Aaron Hicks is doing well. It's sad that he needed to get away from Twins coaches in order to fix the real problems in his approach to hitting, which was far too passive. With his build and athleticism, Aaron Hicks should have been taught to swing the bat like Dave Winfield, not like some light-hitting utility infielder looking to squeeze out a ton of walks. The Yankees saw the offensive potential in Hicks, and coached him in the cocky, assertive Yankee Way. 

 

It's working. Go figure. Have a blast as a Yankee, Aaron.

 

2 homeruns last night!! What a stud! Bet the Yankee fans love him!

 

Aaron Judge is well on his way to becoming the new Mr Yankee in the fans' hearts as memories of Jeter begin to fade away. But I would bet the Yanks marketing department is already working on some sort of myth-making media hype involving the "Aaron Daily Double".

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jimbo92107 Ft Myers Mighty Mussels

jimbo92107

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And neither were of the "short porch" variety- Hick's got all of both of them.

I see the Yankees fixed his "French Mistake" problem. I wonder if they used a Taser on his butt, or just stood behind him with a pitchfork... ;-)

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jokin Wichita Wind Surge

jokin

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I see the Yankees fixed his "French Mistake" problem. I wonder if they used a Taser on his butt, or just stood behind him with a pitchfork... ;-)

 

I don't think there's any question that Hicks and the Twins' plan for him were the proverbial rock and a hard place. Perhaps Hicks has finally matured and opened up to coaching, but no question the exasperated Twins failed to get Hicks to even make the slightest reach towards his full potential, and were willingly happy to rid themselves of him when his value was at low ebb.

 

Starting out with force-feeding him into the leadoff man role in 2014 as a rookie- I don't think he ever recovered from the mental torture he endured as the Twins continued to throw him out there every day- even when it was obvious he was hopelessly overmatched. The whole switch-hitting thing played out in real time, the public revelation of the Daddy issues with regards to Hicks' preference to shooting a round of golf over putting on his mitt, the yo-yo-ing by Gardy, making Hicks his boy one day and his whipping boy the next. Plenty of fault on both sides in the whole sordid drama.

 

 

To many of us who predicted at the time that the trade of a former #1 pick for a backup catcher was a foolish move on the part of Terry Ryan and crew (I'm guessing you were one of them), Hicks' Yankee success comes as no surprise.

 

I guess the best that can be said for the Twins is that they gave Hicks a second chance at success and Hicks, to his credit, has grabbed that chance by the horns.

 

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DaveW All-Star

DaveW

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Hicks has been named the starter. The collapse is imminent.

Yeah. Him and Judge are gonna get their numbers retired at this point.

 

They honestly might be the best Yankee Of combo since Mantle and Maris

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Vanimal46 MVP

Vanimal46

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Good for Hicks. Admittedly I was on the other side of the argument thinking Hicks wouldn't develop more than what we saw before. He's exceeded all expectations so far. 

 

Maybe there's something to say about having competition to kick him into gear... Going into the off-season he knew Judge was coming up for good, and needed to evolve or forever be a bench bat. The Twins handed him CF and RF on a silver platter without any realistic backup plan. 

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ashbury Cooperstown

ashbury

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I hate being so right all of the time.

So when you proclaim a trade is happening and it doesn't happen you are  not wrong.  Denial to preserve ego is funny

Moderator's note: TD has a clear policy on respectful posting. The latter post here is far out of bounds. However, the self-promotion in the first post is what invites it. Don't make it be about yourself; don't make it be about other posters.

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USAFChief Cooperstown

USAFChief

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Good for Hicks. Admittedly I was on the other side of the argument thinking Hicks wouldn't develop more than what we saw before. He's exceeded all expectations so far. 

 

Maybe there's something to say about having competition to kick him into gear... Going into the off-season he knew Judge was coming up for good, and needed to evolve or forever be a bench bat. The Twins handed him CF and RF on a silver platter without any realistic backup plan.

 

I think it's as simple as Hicks, with loads of physical talent, just needed ABs at the major league level. Not everyone figures it out, but it was incredibly stupid of Ryan to invest all that time into Hicks, and then before seeing what he might get as a reward, trading him for a guy who was never, ever going to be a major contributor.

 

Trade him for a struggling pitcher with ace stuff? Ok, that would be a reasonable bet.

 

Trade him for Murphy? Really bad bet. Really bad, even if Hicks never got better. That's like trading your pocket aces for 2-7 off suit because you saw the top flop card and it was a six.

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DaveW All-Star

DaveW

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I think it's as simple as Hicks, with loads of physical talent, just needed ABs at the major league level. Not everyone figures it out, but it was incredibly stupid of Ryan to invest all that time into Hicks, and then before seeing what he might get as a reward, trading him for a guy who was never, ever going to be a major contributor.

 

Trade him for a struggling pitcher with ace stuff? Ok, that would be a reasonable bet.

 

Trade him for Murphy? Really bad bet. Really bad, even if Hicks never got better. That's like trading your pocket aces for 2-7 off suit because you saw the top flop card and it was a six.

The crazy thing is that Hicks actually had a pretty good year the year prior! Instead of having patience and trying to fix him, Ryan panicked and traded him for a guy who's absolute ceiling was a backup Catcher.

 

This could go down as one of the worst 5 trades of the last 25 years in baseball, easily.

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