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NJ.com | Sean Miller: The December acquisition that we have all been waiting for was introduced at a press conference in Trenton yesterday. No, I don’t mean Gerrit Cole; I’m talking about Dash to Home Plate-That Golden Thunder (Dash for short), the newest Thunder bat dog! Born on December 22, 2019, Dash will spend most of the season at the Thunder’s training facility, Shelly’s School for Dogs at the Green Leaf Pet Resort, although he will visit Arm and Hammer Park occasionally throughout the season. Next year, he will join his cousin Rookie, as the succession process will begin.
Pictures of the two can be found on Rookie’s Twitter page.
The Athletic | Lindsey Adler (subscription required): Normally I prefer to stay away from articles with a paywall on these posts, but this is simply too good to not share. A new league has risen to rival the XFL in the post-Super Bowl niche marketplace: the Madden-based NSL, also known as the National Savages League. The Yankees have a “fiercely competitive Madden NFL league” running in their clubhouse, with twelve players — Zack Britton, Clint Frazier, Aaron Hicks, Ben Heller, Michael King, Luke Voit, Jonathan Holder, Aaron Judge, Tommy Kahnle, DJ LeMahieu, Mike Tauchman, and Tyler Wade. Rife with possible cheating and a possibly-corrupt commissioner (Kahnle), these guys compete with the same vigor as they do on the field. As of now, DJ LeMahieu’s Detroit Lions appears to be the Super Bowl favorite.
NJ.com | Mike Rosenstein: Keith Law, now of The Athletic, has released his annual farm system rankings, and he considers the Yankees’ system as the sixth best in baseball. Behind only the Rays, Braves, Dodgers, Diamondbacks, and Padres, numerous high-profile pitching prospects and an overabundance of high-ceiling players in rookie ball and short-season Single-A, the Yankees’ farm system has an immensely high ceiling despite several graduating prospects the last few seasons. Three prospects — Clarke Schmidt (51), Deivi Garcia (67), and Jasson Dominguez (99) — cracked his top 100 prospects list as well.
New York Post | George A. King III: With injuries to Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge, it looks like Clint Frazier, who appeared to be ticketed to Scranton due to the Yankees’ outfield depth, might suddenly be thrust into the regular lineup at the start of the season. Fortunately for the Yankees, a scout told King, “he looks better” both at the plate and in the field, the best-case scenario for everybody involved.
New York Post | Mike Puma and Ken Davidoff: Another day, another “Will the Yankees trade for a Mets pitcher?” article. This time, it’s about Steven Matz, who may be the odd man out in Queens this spring. Once again, the hypothetical piece that the Yankees would send in exchange is Miguel Andujar. While I’m not one to dismiss these things out of hand, I’m more inclined to think that this was two interns talking about their fantasy teams than general managers talking about their actual teams.