The Mets hire Wayne Krivsky - MLB

Ken Rosenthal reports that the Mets have hired Wayne Krivsky to be a special assistant to Omar Minaya. Krivsky is a former Reds GM and is currently a special assistant to Orioles GM Andy MacPhail.

Krivsky’s real baseball bonafides, however, come from his time with the Twins. As assistant GM to Terry Ryan in Minnesota, Krivsky tended to handle the business end of things: negotiating long-term deals and salary arbitration stuff. He was given a lot of credit for being Ryan’s right hand man, and Ryan made a lot of good moves during that time. Hard to say how much of that is on Ryan and how much on Krivsky but at the very least he was standing around while a lot of success happened.

Krivsky’s time in Cincinnati was a real mixed bag. A widely-panned trade (Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez to the Nats for some bullpen arms and pitching prospect Daryl Thompson) and some inexplicable contracts (Corey Patterson? For $3 million?) are widely cited. He did a pretty good job early, however, picking up Bronson Arroyo and Brandon Phillips in one-sided deals. He was always good for one or two value moves a season like signing Scott Hatteberg or something.

Krivsky is certainly not a perfect executive, but he is a smart, experienced and generally respected one. Given the caliber of Omar’s previous assistants, those sorts of guys are certainly welcome in the Mets front office.

BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Orioles signed outfielder Aaron Hicks less than 24 hours after Cedric Mullins went down with a strained right groin.

Mullins went on the 10-day injured list, but the Orioles are hoping Hicks can help defensively in the spacious outfield at Camden Yards. Hicks was released last week by the New York Yankees with more than 2 1/2 seasons left on his contract.

“We had noticed that he was a free agent even before the injury,” Orioles general manager Mike Elias said. “When the injury occurred and it became pretty clear this was going to be an IL, it seemed like a good fit even more so at that time.”

The Orioles are responsible for paying Hicks just $483,871, a prorated share of the $720,000 minimum salary. The Yankees owe him the rest of his $10.5 million salary this year, plus $9.5 million in each of the next two seasons and a $1 million buyout of a 2026 team option.

The 33-year-old Hicks hit just .188 in 28 games for the Yankees this year.

“We have stuff that we look at from a scouting and evaluation perspective,” Elias said. “It’s very different from just looking at the back of a baseball card, and we hope that we get a bounceback from anyone we bring here.”

Hicks batted .216 last season.

“Hopefully that’s a good thing for him,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of the Baltimore deal. “A lot of time here and a lot of good things happened for him here. I know the last couple of years have been a struggle. But hopefully it’s a good opportunity for him and certainly wish him well. Not too well being in our division and a team we’re chasing, but hopefully it’s a really good fit for him.”

Mullins left a loss to Cleveland after he pulled up while running out an infield grounder. Outfielder Colton Cowser – the fifth pick in the draft two years ago – is hitting .331 at Triple-A Norfolk, but he went on the IL in the past couple weeks.

“Certainly he was building a case towards promotion consideration prior to his injury and prior to Cedric’s injury,” Elias said. “We’ll just see where we’re at.”

Hicks was active for the game but not in the starting lineup. Austin Hays, normally Baltimore’s left field, was in Mullins’ usual spot in center.

When the wall in left at Camden Yards was pushed significantly back before last season, it made left field a bigger challenge defensively.

“In this park … you really need two center fielders,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Aaron’s got a lot of center-field experience. Played left field here before also. Brings the defensive aspect and then the switch-hitting.”