Around the Empire: Yankees news - 6/20/18

ESPN | Coley Harvey: A few days ago, Brandon Drury voiced his displeasure with being stuck in Triple-A. Now Clint Frazier is joining Drury. Both players deserve to be in the majors, so their frustration is absolutely warranted, but unfortunately there’s nowhere to play either of them right now. Frazier joked that he’s MLB’s “26th Man of the Year.” Both, however, aren’t letting that affect them or their attitudes and are trying to keep a “cool mindset” while remaining patient.

ESPN | Coley Harvey: Following up on the post above, the reason behind Frazier and Drury’s disappointment is the success of others. Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar’s success has blocked Drury, who only went down after a vision problem and Frazier is likely only up for a few days as Brett Gardner recovers from a knee injury. It’s not just Andujar and Torres that are succeeding though. Domingo German is starting to settle in as a starter in the rotation and Johnny Lasagna Jonathan Loaisiga was impressive in his first start.

New York Post | Joel Sherman: The Mariners and Nationals both made big trades earlier than trade season normally starts. Both teams traded for a closer, to use in non-save situations. Essentially, they’re trying to create their own versions of the Yankees bullpen. The Yankees bullpen might be one of the best ever, though. Currently, they lead MLB with 4.8 WAR, with the Astros in second place with 3.7 WAR. The Yankees have five of the top 34 relievers in WAR, and that doesn’t even include Adam Warren or Tommy Kahnle.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: The All-Star Game is a month away, so it’s time to look at the updated voting. As of right now only one Yankee, Aaron Judge, is set to start the game. Gary Sanchez was in first during the last update, but has now slipped to second behind the Rays’ Wilson Ramos. The voting is still close there though, so if Sanchez goes on one of his hot streaks, it’ll help. Meanwhile, I’m out here voting for Neil Walker, because why not?

MLB.com | Mandy Bell: It’s been a while since I’ve done this, let me just see if I can remember how this goes. /clears throat. GIANCARLO STANTON IS A YANKEE! Ah yes, that’s how it’s done. Giancarlo Stanton’s recent hot streak continued yesterday with a monster dong (his second in four games at Yankee Stadium). Andujar, Torres, and Aaron Hicks also joined Stanton in the dinger party yesterday. More importantly, look at Hicks’ home run:

Nice

A.J. Cole hadn’t appeared in a game for the Yankees in three weeks, but thanks to his solid performance yesterday, he is quite nice.

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