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Newsday | Erik Boland: World Series or bust. Okay, not really. But kind of? Brian Cashman said yesterday that his goal for the season is to celebrate 28. Cashman says he has too much respect for other teams to say “World Series or bust,” but that’s indeed his goal and he’s aware that the road in the American League is tough. It’s his job to keep improving, so he’s not just going to sit back and think his job is done. He’s put together a good squad but he has to be ready for any problem.
WEEI | Ryan Hannable: As Brian Cashman said, the American League is tough and it starts right in the Yankees’ division with the Red Sox. After all, they are the reigning AL East champions and deserve some respect. Red Sox owner John Henry and chairman Tom Werner both spoke about the Yankees acquiring Giancarlo Stanton this offseason and both praised the move and said it would be good for the rivalry. The Red Sox did their own part to answer the Stanton move by signing J.D. Martinez to a five-year deal.
FanRag Sports | Jon Heyman: Have we talked about the fact that Giancarlo Stanton is now a Yankee? I’m not sure if it’s been covered, but yes he is a Yankee and life is wonderful. Stanton talked again about how he plans on sharing an apartment with former Marlins teammate AJ Ramos, who is now with the Mets. Stanton also talked about the final Marlins days and how he ended up with the Yankees instead of the Giants or Cardinals. Stanton said he’s where he wants to be.
Cut4 | Jessica Kleinschmidt: There’s really not much here, but this is also everything you’ll ever want. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton had their first official batting practice session of 2018 yesterday and it was beautiful. Even though Judge won last year’s Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game, Stanton won yesterday’s by knocking four monster dongs to Judge’s two. You can watch the full batting practice session here.
New York Daily News | Mike Mazzeo: While all the prospect hype in camp is surrounding Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar, one name that shouldn’t be forgotten (LOOKING AT YOU, KEITH LAW) is Esteven Florial. While it would probably take a lot of bad things to happen for Florial to make the Opening Day roster, he still has a chance to show himself off and show why he’s been practically “untouchable” in trade talks. If Florial keeps it up, it might not be long before he’s manning center field for the Yankees.
MLB.com | David Adler: Lastly, Major League Baseball announced the new pace-of-play initiatives and they’re just as underwhelming as you didn’t expect. No, there’s no pitch clock this year. No, Tyler Norton won’t heckle players from the stands and make them feel bad for running slow. Instead, there’ll be a limit (six) on how many mound visits teams can make, with no penalty for going over the limit. Additionally, there’ll be initiatives to speed up the time of breaks between innings, pitching changes, and replays.