Around the Empire: Yankees news - 2/1/17

New York Post | Ken Davidoff: Yesterday the Yankees announced 23 non-roster invitees to big league spring training. Of those 23 invitees, there are four prospects who stand out and are ready to steal the spotlight in spring training. Now that the Yankees are fully embracing the youth movement, the youngsters are the ones who’ll get the attention. And everyone’s excited to see what Gleyber Torres, Clint Frazier, Chance Adams and Justus Sheffield have to offer.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Sheffield isn’t the Yankee prospect everyone is talking about, really it’s Justus talking about him. But more people should be talking about Sheffield, who came over in the trade alongside Frazier that sent Andrew Miller to Cleveland. Sheffield realizes that he was part of a blockbuster trade, but isn’t changing his approach to try and live up to the hype. Now he’s just excited to pitch the way he knows he can and hopefully one day don the coveted pinstripes.

Sports Illustrated | Jay Jaffe: LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE! In the red corner we have Andrew Benintendi of the Boston Red Sox. In the blue corner we have Gleyber Torres of the New York Yankees. You may not have heard, but the Yankees and Red Sox are rivals of sorts. Now their rivalry has extended past the baseball field and into the prospect field. The fight for baseball’s #1 prospect appears to be between Benintendi and Torres, and the two will hopefully anchor exciting baseball in the AL East for years to come.

USA Today | Steve Gardner: Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? The answer is fantasy. If you’re a fantasy baseball fan, Brett’s brother is previewing the fantasy outlook of the Yankees in 2017. Though it’s unfair to ask Gary Sanchez to repeat the kind of power he demonstrated in 2016, fantasy owners should jump at the chance to draft him to get positive production out of the catcher’s spot. He and Tanaka seem to be the best fantasy bets on the Yankees, while Greg Bird and Dellin Betances are solid sleeper candidates.