Around the Empire: Yankees news - 9/25/19

Yahoo Sports | Wallace Matthews: In an interview with Matthews, Yankees GM Brian Cashman confirmed the team was very much so interested in Marcus Stroman at the trade deadline, but were not willing to part with Clint Frazier. They also saw Stroman in a lesser role: “We were interested in Stroman but we didn’t think he would be a difference-maker,” he said. “We felt he would be in our bullpen in the postseason.”

Although Stroman had a brief rough adjustment period with the NL East he has still been very effective. He wasn’t a big fan of Cashman’s interview apparently, and tweeted out the following:

NJ.com| Brendan Kuty: Gary Sanchez, who has been nursing a groin strain, took batting practice for the second straight day. He also caught Masahiro Tanaka’s bullpen and ran before the Yankees faced the Rays yesterday. The catcher also went deep in batting practice, clearly not losing any pop with the bat while being away from game action since September 12.

NJ.com| Randy Miller: Edwin Encarnacion has been phenomenal since being acquired from the Seattle Mariners earlier this year. Plugging his bat into a lineup that was already lethal was like using a cheat code on a video game. Aside from the obvious threat he presents at the plate day in and day out, with the the impending departure of CC Sabathia and possibly Brett Gardner at the conclusion of the 2019, Encarnacion’s veteran presence could be valuable for this Yankees team. One thing for certain is the Yankees and Encarnacion have the same goal in mind and that’s a championship ring.

New York Post| Dan Martin: If the Yankees are to make a strong playoff push, they’re going to need their star shortstop to produce like one. Over his past eight games leading up to Tuesday, Didi Gregorius went 5-for-31 with one extra-base hit, four walks and eight strikeouts. The worse part about it is that he doesn’t see himself being close to fixing the problem. This is not only a huge cause for concern because he will be a free agent at the end of this season, but also because his productivity could be the difference between wearing pinstripes beyond 2019 or not.