Around the Empire: Yankees news - 3/13/19

NJ.com | Brendan Kuty: Yesterday’s news featured a story about Aaron Hicks’ back reportedly feeling better on Sunday. The Yankees revealed that he had to have a cortisone shot Monday, though, so maybe not so good after all? He’s expected to be shut down for the next few days. Aaron Boone did give him a vote of confidence though, saying he thinks he will be ready to go Opening Day.

ESPN | AP: The Bombers are one of the few teams who haven’t done a massive spring training cut yet, but they did re-assign a few players yesterday. Among them was Danny Farquhar, who they sent to minor league camp. Considering that he hadn’t pitched in nearly a year, it’s no wonder that he’s still rusty. “We saw enough to suggest he can get back to where he was,” Boone said. Maybe we’ll see him in the big leagues in a few months.

New York Post | Joel Sherman: One of the Yankees’ first offseason moves was the James Paxton trade with Seattle. They received Justus Sheffield and Erik Swanson in the deal. Both have been sent to minor league camp already, but they apparently made good impressions. Sheffield appears to be first in line to join the rotation, and Swanson could make some starts at some point too.

NY Daily News | Sarah Valenzuela: Yankees Instagram made the executive decision that Aaron Judge is “your favorite New York athlete.” Sound off on whether that’s true in the comments!