Another trade: Hicks for Murphy

John Ryan Murphy homers in a September game
against the Baltimore Orioles.

Another day, another move by the Twins: On Wednesday they traded outfielder and former first-round pick Aaron Hicks to the Yankees for catcher John Ryan Murphy.

I like this trade for both teams, and for both players. The Twins are spilling over with outfielders and lacked catching depth; the Yankees have an established (and highly paid) veteran catcher as a starter and a promising prospect pushing for the backup job, while their outfield core is aging and brittle.

Yankees-Twins trade: Hicks has more upside than Murphy, but Murphy is at harder position to find. A trade that makes sense.

— JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36) November 11, 2015

Cooper, the managing editor of Baseball America, goes into a bit more detail on Murphy here.

I thought that Hicks was destined in Minnesota for a fourth-outfielder role, with Byron Buxton, Eddie Rosario and Max Kepler all higher-ceiling guys than him. I don't have to buy into the Miguel Sano as an outfielder notion to see little room for Hicks in the Minnesota outfield. I also think Yankee Stadium might help mask Hicks' flaws as a left-handed hitter by turning a handful of flyballs into homers.

And, to be blunt, the Twins really needed somebody who can be an alternative to Kurt Suzuki, who did not have a good 2015 and who is, as a catcher above the age of 30, has the arrow pointing down. Murphy isn't a budding star, but he might be a four-or-five year regular at a difficult position to fill. With Brian McCann ahead of him, he wasn't going to get that chance in New York.