The Minnesota Twins cleared some room in a congested outfield by trading Aaron Hicks to the New York Yankees on Wednesday for catcher John Ryan Murphy.
Hicks, the Twins' first-round pick in 2008, played in 252 games for Minnesota from 2013-15. He finally seemed to put things together last season, hitting 11 home runs and stealing 13 bases in 97 games while batting .256. But the Twins have Byron Buxton likely ready to take over center field, have Eddie Rosario at one corner spot and have been talking about using Miguel Sano in the outfield, not to mention prospect Max Kepler.
The right-handed hitting Muprhy, who will turn 25 in May, played in 67 games for the Yankees in 2015, batting .277 with three home runs. He threw out 28 percent of attempted basestealers, which was below the league average of 32 percent.
"We know he's got power and he can throw and he's a pretty good defensive catcher," Twins assistant general manager Rob Antony said. "We think he has all the skills and the traits to be a major league starting catcher. Whether it's now or down the road, it may take a little time."
Minnesota expects Murphy at first to share time with Kurt Suzuki, the starting catcher the past two seasons. The trade gives Buxton a chance to win the center field job in spring training and could open a corner spot for Sano, who was moved from third base to outfield in winter ball.
Minnesota dealt one of its backup catchers, Chris Herrmann, to Arizona on Tuesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
