Around the Empire: Yankees news - 1/30/20

CBS Sports | Mike Axisa: The public feud between MLB and Minor League Baseball has continued in the spotlight, with Congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle proposing a resolution to urge the Commissioner’s office from continuing with its plan to contract 42 minor league teams, with the league responding with a statement of its own. Unfortunately, with the Professional Baseball Agreement linking the two organizations together expiring at the end of 2020, this issue will likely not go away for quite some time.

SNY | Scott Thompson: Orange County College baseball coach John Altobelli was tragically killed in the same helicopter crash that resulted in the death of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and sent shockwaves throughout the sports world. Although not nearly as well-known a name, Altobelli was influential in the baseball world, building a powerhouse of a program and coaching Aaron Judge and Jeff McNeil. Although never playing for him, new Yankee ace Gerrit Cole came from the area, and as such, went to pay his respects at Orange County’s first game of the season earlier this week.

NJ.com | Mike Rosenstein: Former Yankee Gregorio Petit has been hired to be the manager of the Houston Astros Double-A affiliate from Corpus Christi. Much less famous than the other Yankee with a similar name, Petit played 20 games for the Yankees back in 2015, posting a 25 OPS+. I’ll admit, I forgot that he existed, much less played for the Yankees, but I checked some old box scores and can confirm that he in fact did.

Also of note is that the Astros filled their major league managing vacancy by hiring Dusty Baker. The rival Red Sox are now the only team looking for a manager.