At this time last year the trade of John Ryan Murphy for Aaron Hicks trade looked like a drag for both the Yankees and the Twins. Hicks bombed in the majors with the Yankees, and Murphy spent most of the season in the minors for Minnesota.
Today, the swap has to rank high on Yankees general manager Brian Cashman’s successful deals and may get better before the year is done.
On Friday night at Yankee Stadium, the switch-hitting Hicks swatted two homers to back the splendid pitching of rookie Jordan Montgomery in an 8-2 Yankees victory witnessed by a sold-out crowd of 46,031.