Aaron Hicks, Yankees Agree to 7-Year, $70M Contract Extension

The New York Yankees and outfielder Aaron Hicks agreed to a seven-year, $70 million contract extension, the club announced on Monday. 

Jack Curry of YES Network first reported the agreement.

Hicks, 29, has spent the last three seasons with the Yankees. He was set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2019 season.

While it's not a surprise the Yankees would want to keep Hicks around, the length of the deal is bound to open some eyes. A seven-year deal will take Hicks well into his mid-30s, and he does not have a huge body of consistent production. He's posted 8.2 wins above replacement over the last two seasons, per FanGraphs, but he only had 2.3 combined his first four MLB seasons.

The Yankees sat out the Bryce Harper and Manny Machado markets this offseason but have worked on retaining their current talent. Along with Hicks, the club signed Luis Severino to a four-year, $40 million extension earlier this winter. 

The Yankees also appear to have their outfield locked up for the foreseeable future. Giancarlo Stanton has an early opt out after the 2020 season, though it seems likely he'll opt into the final seven years of his $325 million contract. Aaron Judge still has not even hit arbitration.

"Everything is connected," Brian Cashman said, per James Wagner of the New York Times. "Our payrolls continue to increase, and we're preparing and have been preparing for that as these players that we think are very special continue their journeys."

If Hicks continues to perform at 3-4 WAR every season, his contract will be one of the biggest bargains in the sport. Hicks actually had a higher WAR than Bryce Harper in 2018, and Harper could be about to sign the biggest contract in the history of North American sports.

That said, seven years is still a long time for a player few would call a foundational building block.