Yankees’ Aaron Hicks designated for assignment: ‘Got to move on to the next chapter’

The Aaron Hicks experiment has come to an end in New York. 

The Yankees designated Hicks for assignment on Saturday, ending his tenure with the organization. 

The team made the announcement prior to Saturday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds, also announcing the signing of outfielder of Greg Allen while adding him to the active roster. 

“It is what it is,” Hicks told the New York Post. “It’s part of the business side of it. Just got to move on to the next chapter.” 

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“This is a very good baseball team,” he added. “It kind of seemed like it wasn’t working out for me. Obviously with the decision they decided to make, maybe somewhere else might be a little bit better.”

Hicks still has over $30 million remaining on his seven-year, $70 million contract that the outfielder signed in 2019. 

“This is family,” manager Aaron Boone told reporters before Saturday’s game against the Reds, according to The New York Daily News. “You go through everything with these guys. Obviously, with Aaron, some ups and downs. He’s had some really good seasons. . . . Not an easy conversation to have but one we felt was necessary.”

Hicks was in his eighth season in New York but greatly struggled through the first two months of the season. 

In 28 games, Hicks is hitting just .188, striking out 20 times in 76 plate appearances in 2023. 

He appeared in 130 games for the Yankees during the 2022 season, hitting .216 and driving in 40 runs. 

New York will have seven days to trade Hicks before placing him on waivers. 

The Yankees have won four of their last five games after taking the first of a three-game series on Friday against the Reds. 

Aaron Judge homered for the seventh time in seven games as New York moved to 27-20 on the season with a 6-2 win. 

“It’s just very reminiscent of what we saw last year,” Yankees starting pitcher Clarke Schmidt said of Judge. “You see the same guy. I don’t think anything’s changed from last year. When you see him catch hot like this, just watch out. It’s definitely a reason for concern for the rest of the league.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.