Aaron Hicks has officially been released by the New York Yankees after spending more than eight years with the club.
Hicks was designated for assignment last week, which meant that he was immediately removed from the Yankees’ 40-man roster in Major League Baseball. Now it has been confirmed that Hicks has been released with more than two years left on his contract.
The 33-year-old had been with the Yankees since 2016 after being traded by the Minnesota Twins. Now a free agent, Hicks can be signed by a new team who wishes to pick him up, but it remains to be seen which teams could be interested at this stage.
However, Hicks left his contract with the Yankees with more than two years left to run. After failing to find a suitable trade for the outfielder, the Yankees ended up releasing him.
At the time of his release, Hicks was still owed around $27.6m from his salary. That includes around $7.6m still owed for the remainder of this season, plus a further $9.5m for each of the remaining two years as well as a $1m buyout of a 2026 team option.
Should any team wish to sign Hicks then they would be able to for a prorated share of the $720,000 major league minimum. This would then be offset against what the Yankees owe from what was left of his contract before being released.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone praised Hicks following the news that the outfielder had been released. Boone wanted to make it clear that Hicks had been a good player for the Yankees during his time in the Bronx, and wished him well for the future despite his rapid decline in the past couple of seasons.
“I hope what doesn't get lost is a couple of really good seasons that he had here, had some good postseason moments here,” said Boone. “Some injuries really impacted his time here and probably impacted his career and his ability to get back to that level.
“Hopefully as time gets removed, you understand that he had some really good seasons here and did some really good things here,” Boone added.
Over the last few seasons, Hicks has struggled with a series of injuries that have impacted his ability to get on the field on a regular basis. He played 28 games this season with a batting average of .188, five RBIs and just the one home run.
That batting average is lower than the .230 that he had been averaging across his career. He finishes his Yankees career with 278 RBIs across a little more than eight seasons.
