The first significant trade of the 2015-16 offseason is upon us, with the Minnesota Twins perhaps taking a bit of my advice (note: not really), using center fielder Aaron Hicks as bait to land something they needed, acquiring catcher John Ryan Murphy from the New York Yankees in a one-for-one swap.
The Twins had a surplus in the outfield, especially in center, with four players who are major-league ready and could credibly play the position in Hicks, Byron Buxton, Eddie Rosario and Max Kepler. Buxton's the best defender of the group, with Hicks not far behind, but Hicks' value would take a hit if he moved to a corner, and the Twins have quite a few corner outfield options anyway, with the logjam even worse if they do end up signing Byung Ho Park. That made Hicks an ideal asset to use to fill another hole; I had speculated they would go for pitching, but they did something even better, addressing the black hole they had behind the plate.
