Minnesota Twins waived John Hicks who was picked up by the Tigers
John Hicks was one of the Minnesota Twins’ three catchers on their 40 man roster. Yesterday the news broke that Hicks had been quietly placed on outright waivers and was taken by the Tigers
#Tigers claim C John Hicks off waivers from #MNTwins. Was just heating up at the plate.
— Mike BerardinoNDI (@MikeBerardino) April 23, 2016
Players must pass through outright waivers (usually) if their team wishes to remove them from the 40 man roster for whatever reason. That’s just thing in this case—the reason why is not yet known. There was no corresponding move announced and the club’s intentions can only be guessed at.
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Whatever the reason they exposed him to waivers, they were not able to sneak him through and retain control. The Tigers saw something they fancied and jumped on it, and why not: he’s a useful depth piece and can be used anywhere in their system if they keep him on the 40 man. Currently, they’ve placed him with their AA affiliate. He has options remaining.
The Twins now have Carlos Paulino and Juan Centeno as their catching depth beyond John Ryan Murphy and Kurt Suzuki. However, both would need to be added to the 40 man roster if their services were required.
Hicks was originally acquired by the Twins in December 2015 off of waivers from Seattle. Hicks made his debut with the Mariners last season.
Thus far in 2016 he’s collected 8 hits, drawn a walk, hit a home run and two doubles and struck out 5 times over 34 plate appearances with AAA Rochester.
With this move there remains, for now, an open spot on the Twins 40 man roster. It shouldn’t be long before we hear what the team plans to do with it but it’s somewhat odd the moves weren’t announced together.
One scenario out there is that David Murphy will take the spot and subsequently, possibly join the 25 man roster as well. In this scenario one of Byron Buxton or Max Kepler would be returned to AAA. Some have speculated that the roster spot could be used on Jose Berrios but that require another move to adjust the pitching staff to accommodate.
We’ll know for sure soon enough.