Around the Empire: Yankees news - 8/24/19

SNY | Nick Wojton: For better or for worse, the Yankees are going all-in with their current pitching staff. Aaron Boone still feels good about his group, saying that the Yankees “have enough [pitching] to be the best team in the world.” If the team gets Luis Severino and Dellin Betances back, things certainly look a lot better, but the staff still seems a little short of the best in baseball. At the very least, Boone said that the team should get Severino and Betances back “in plenty of time.”

NY Daily News | Kristie Ackert: The Yankees made a minor move yesterday, claiming Cory Gearrin from the Mariners. To make room, the team cut Domingo Acevedo, a former top prospect, but could look to re-sign him to a minor league deal. Interestingly, Gearrin was let go in Seattle to make room for another former Yankee, Justus Sheffield.

NJ.com | Brendan Kuty: J.A. Happ has resembled 2018 Sonny Gray at times this year. Unlike with Gray, where the Yankees publicly lost faith in him and demoted him from the rotation, the Yankees are still playing the confidence card for Happ. After his most recent disaster in Oakland, Boone still talked about building off the positives and expressed that Happ will remain in the rotation until the Yankees get another starter. Basically, unless Luis Severino comes back, Happ will be a part of the Yankees’ rotation.

NJ.com | Mike Rosenstein: Finally, a little bit of “what could have been” news. CC Sabathia, a California native, said recently that he was almost a member of the San Francisco Giants– twice. He expected to be drafted by the Giants back in 1998 before the Indians picked him first. The left-hander was also deep in negotiations with the Giants in 2008 before the Yankees swooped in and added another year to their deal. Sabathia went on to win a World Series with the Yankees, but the Giants still made out OK, winning three titles over the life of CC’s Yankees contract.