Yankees sign Aaron Hicks to seven year, $70 million extension

While the Yankees have made their fair share of moves, some Yankee fans have grown restless this offseason. As players like Patrick Corbin and Manny Machado signed deals with other teams and Bryce Harper seemingly headed elsewhere, New York fans that have become accustomed to the Yankees being willing and able to be players for virtually every big free agent and the Yankees have not shown as much of that willingness this offseason.

However, it is easy to forget that the Yankees were one of the absolute best teams in the entire league last season and only got beat out for a division crown because the Red Sox went on a historic tear in 2018. New York still sports one of the scarier lineups in the league and has a rotation and bullpen that should be allow them to compete for a division crown yet again.

Now, it looks like they will have center field settled for the foreseeable future.

Hicks is a really interesting player in that he isn’t a guy that hits for a particularly high average, but he gets on base at a high clip and he saw his power output spike in 2018 with a career high 27 home runs. He has also put up strong defensive numbers in the past and he has an absolute cannon of an arm out in center field.

Hicks’ extension comes as he was a year away from free agency and comes on the heels of other young players signing extensions of late. Many are already speculating that these extensions are being signed because of the fear that a work stoppage in baseball in on the horizon and players are trying to safeguard themselves in the event that that comes to pass.