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Around the Empire: Yankees news - 8/7/17

Hicks close to returning; Bird hits in cage; Montgomery optioned, Garcia is the 5th starter; Sanchez benched for defense; Holliday placed on 10-day DL, Cooper called up

MLB: Milwaukee Brewers at New York Yankees
“LA LA LA CAN’T GET SENT DOWN IF I CAN’T HEAR YOU”
Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

FanRag Sports | Gary Phillips: The Yankees’ outfield conundrum is going to get more complicated because Aaron Hicks is close to returning. Hicks, rehabing down in Triple-A, said he’s feeling good and is 100% healthy. With Matt Holliday on the DL, finding room on the roster for five outfielders shouldn’t be an issue, but finding playing time will be. Most likely, a revolving door at DH is incoming, which will probably help everyone.

CBS Sports: The caged Bird swings, indeed. Greg Bird hit in the batting cage yesterday as he continues trying to make his way back to the roster. Bird said he’s experiencing no issues in his recovery and is still optimistic he’ll return by the end of the month. The next step for Bird is to hit on the field and start defensive drills and baserunning which will likely happen by next week and that will be followed by a rehab assignment.

FanRag Sports | Jesse Borek: The Yankees meant it when they said they were going to a six-man rotation for only one turn. Jordan Montgomery was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Jaime Garcia is officially the Yankees’ new fifth starter. While Montgomery was ultimately the victim of the Garcia trade, he was also approaching an innings limit which is easier to manage in the minors instead of during a pennant chase.

Newsday | David Lennon: Gary Sanchez has struggled defensively this season to put it lightly. Even Joe Girardi came out and said Sanchez’s defense needs to improve. On Sunday, though, Girardi made a curious decision to bench Sanchez. This isn’t permanent and Sanchez is expected back in the lineup tomorrow, but Sanchez’s defense won’t improve from the bench and taking his bat out of the lineup hurts the team. At the very least, he could’ve DH’d, either way Sanchez’s bat is just too valuable.

New York Post | George A. King III: After speculating that Matt Holliday would land on the 10-day disabled list, the Yankees made the move official early Sunday morning. As a corresponding roster move, the Yankees called Garrett Cooper back up from Triple-A. Holliday hadn’t been hitting at all since getting Epstein-Barr in Oakland, so it’s not really a “blow” to the Yankees. Hopefully he can get healthy and hit like he was in the beginning of the year.

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