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TAMPA – Aaron Hicks said he wants to retire from the wounded list when he qualifies on April 3, but Yankees manager Aaron Boone said on Friday that this would probably not happen.
And Clint Frazier will not fill the gap, as the outfielder, who struggled to train this spring, was sent to Triple-A Scranton / Wilkes-Barre Friday night.
"I think it's too ambitious. We need to get him back, "Boone said of Hicks, the central defensive player and striker who has not played since March 5 and who has received two injections of cortisone for a lower back problem. "He missed a considerable part of the spring training. We need to build it. "
Hicks, who has played four exhibition games, is an important part of what should be a fatal formation, but Boone said that there was no reason to rush.
"Even if we need him and want him, we do not want to send him back a few days in advance and endanger anything in 162. We have to be patient," said Boone. "Balanced with the urgency to go about it and come back, we will be conservative with it."
Without Hicks, Brett Gardner will slip from left field to center and Giancarlo Stanton will move from the designated hitter to the left field. Tyler Wade, an infielder, will occupy the three field positions. And do not stop the Yankees from adding a veteran player who can play at the center of the competition when teams make cuts to qualify for the 25-man lineup of the opening day.
As for Frazier, the Yankees' plan was to allow him to start the season in Triple-A to need catch-up after a concussion that limited him to 69 games between Triple-A, Single-A Tampa and the Yankees (15) a year ago.
When Hicks fell, Frazier's fans concocted a plan in which the 24-year-old could form the team. However, that was not in the plan, and Frazier did not open his eyes by hitting .130 (6 of 46) with 15 strikeouts and an alarming .425 OPS.
Frazier may not agree with the theory that he has to play every day for a long time to recover the criticism he did not have last year, but that's what it's all about. which is best for him and the Yankees.
If he hits well at Triple-A, he could also be his ticket to a club that does not have blockage in the outside field via an exchange against a pitcher. The Pirates were interested in Frazier as part of a package aimed at the Gerrit Cole pitcher before last season, but the right-handed landed in Houston.
If Frazier could play in the middle of the field, his value to the Yankees would be greater, but he has not played in the middle of the field since his last days in the minor league in the Indian organization in 2016. It was at that time that the Yankees acquired it. representing Justus Sheffield of the Indians for Andrew Miller. The Yankees used Sheffield to drop off starting pitcher James Paxton, who will play the second game of the season against the brutal Orioles of Seattle.
The Yankees announced the demotion of Frazier after the club closed before the Phillies match at George M. Steinbrenner Field. He was not available to comment.
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