Jose Trevino mic'd-up moment shows Yankees value Aaron Hicks in clubhouse

While Aaron Hicks isn't most Yankees fans' Plan A, B or C for the starting left field job this season -- and might not even be the Yankees' plan, once the trade deadline arrives -- it's important to remember the game's human element.

It's easy to dismiss Hicks as a "clubhouse cancer" and a net negative from an outsider's perspective. After all, the fly ball he dropped and allowed to roll fair against the Rays last September was a pretty glaring symbol of surrender.

In the wake of that moment, Aaron Boone worked hard to keep Hicks out of the spotlight, benching him at home and deemphasizing him down the stretch, fearful of the crowd's reaction to his presence in a post-Joey Gallo reality.

Many of us assumed, in that moment, that he was persona non grata in the Yankees clubhouse, too, and that things could get awkward if he were elevated back to a starting role. But those who assumed aren't inside the building's walls. This Yankees team seems to prefer doing this together rather than begging for a seismic shift. Anthony Rizzo and Aaron Judge were booed, but they both returned. Aaron Boone has "lost the locker room," other than the fact that his (non-Luis Severino) players seem to always defend him.

While the Yankees' attempts to show the lighter side of spring training are obviously more goofy than meaningful (Gerrit Cole loves Cocoa Pebbles?), Jose Trevino's mic'd-up photo day showed us a little bit of evidence that Hicks is more beloved in the room than he is outside of it. And yes, that's probably exactly why the Yankees included the moment in their social cut.

Yankees catcher Jose Trevino revealed Aaron Hicks is clubhouse prankster

"Hicks behind me is the worst thing that could've happened," Trevino opines for the camera. "He's just going to make me laugh the whole time."

Later, we also see Trevino chasing Hicks away, having been sufficiently bothered. Clearly, the outfielder is a pest, but not in the way most fans prefer to believe.

Now, just because Hicks is well-liked and in a better headspace entering 2023 doesn't mean the Yankees wouldn't trade him away for salary relief and disrupt chemistry in a heartbeat. Camaraderie is an important thing, but it isn't everything. Sometimes it breeds production, and sometimes -- for example, during Hicks' wrist rehab -- it doesn't. If some team wanted to absolve the Yankees of their long-term attachment to Hicks, Brian Cashman would nod and send him packing.

After all, he almost traded the well-liked Gleyber Torres on a whim last summer.

But, as goofy as this is, it's nice to see the video focus specifically on Trevino and Hicks, never dwelling on any other internal relationship. We see Trevino bothering rookies. We see Trevino busting up photographers. And we see Trevino specifically trying to get Hicks to stop cracking him up in a particularly wholesome moment.

And the Yankees wanted us to see it.