Around the Empire: Yankees news - 6/26/20

New York Post | George A. King III: Major League Baseball is taking several precautions to ensure its players’ safety, such as twice-daily temperature checks, a ban on spitting and a requirement for non-players to wear masks in the dugout, among other measures. Count Zack Britton as a believer in the precautions – he says that he think the league is taking the “appropriate steps.” After some members of the Yankees’ organization in Tampa tested positive for COVID-19, the Yankees will host spring/summer training in New York, and Britton and the other players will report next Wednesday.

NJ.com | Brendan Kuty: MLB is allowing an expanded 30-man active roster, as well as a 30-man “taxi squad” of reinforcements. But, where will this taxi squad play and practice? For the Yankees, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre seems like the most likely place. It has the best facilities of all the team’s minor league facilities, and isn’t too far from the Bronx (although Trenton and Staten Island would have been closer). Railriders president John Adams said he has had no confirmation yet that his stadium will host the taxi squad, but said that the facility is “90 percent ready to go.”

SNY | Scott Thompson: It’s now official that the expanded active rosters will cap at 30, an increase of four players over the expected 26-man roster. If a typical roster consists of 13 position players and 13 pitchers, the expanded roster will probably feature 15 position players and 15 pitchers. For the Yankees, spring training standouts like Rosell Herrera, Mike Ford and Clint Frazier are on the bubble, and there could be room for prospects like Deivi Garcia if the cards fall right. One thing’s for sure, the Yankees will use their massive depth to their advantage through expanded rosters and the taxi squad.