Around the Empire: Yankees News - 9/3/19

MLB Trade Rumors | Steve Adams: Edwin Encarnacion, aka The Parrot, is expected to be the next Avenger Yankee to step through a portal and return to the Bronx. The power-hitting first baseman/designated hitter cleaned out his locker in Scranton, telling reporter Conor Foley that he was “ready to go.” While the Yankees offense has been running on all cylinders despite Encarnacion’s absence, it’s never a bad thing to have a 30-home run guy return to the lineup.

New York Post | Howie Kussoy: Sunday was Mike Mussina Hall of Fame celebration day at Yankee Stadium, which has sparked a lot of discussions of Moose’s legacy in the Bronx and in Baltimore. Despite not winning a World Series or a Cy Young Award, or getting his number retired, Mussina has zero regrets about his time in pinstripes, and believes that he stopped at the right time. He may not have the hardware, but he has a place in Cooperstown — and for all of us who grew up watching him pitch, a place in our hearts.

Yahoo Sports | Hannah Keyser: Another day, another article on Clint Frazier using “distractions” as its hook — this time, his nose piercing, which is not explicitly forbidden by the team, but not encouraged either. After spending the season languishing in Scranton due to his defense and the fact that the Yankees’ other outfielders hit so well he wasn’t needed, Frazier now has time to remind everybody why he was such a highly-touted prospect.

NJ.com | Randy Martin: The Yankees have traded 26-year-old minor league pitcher J.P. Feyereisen to the Brewers in exchange for international pool money and 16-year-old minor league infielder Brenny Escanio. Feyereisen, initially acquired from the Cleveland Indians in the Andrew Miller trade, had performed well for the Scranton Railriders, with a 2.49 ERA, 13.8 K/9, 4.6 BB/9, 0.88 HR/9, and a 36.7 percent ground-ball rate; despite this, he’s in his third year at Triple-A, and has clearly never been a major part of the Yankees plans.

Sports Illustrated | Matt Martell: As the calendar flips to September, the playoff races begin to heat up. Although four of the six divisional races are all but over (only the AL and NL Central are at all close), both wild card races and the battle for home field advantage rage on, and may come down to game 162.

Lastly, it is with a heavy heart that I post the following statement from the Detroit Tigers on the passing of Chace Numata, a catcher for their Double-A affiliate. The former Yankees farmhand had suffered a skateboarding accident on Friday.

Although Numata was not a household name, anytime that this happens is a sad occasion, and reminds us that, as great as the sport is, there are a lot more important things in life than baseball.