Around the Empire: Yankees news - 10/30/21

Sports Illustrated | Gary Phillips: The Yankees received a welcome piece of news yesterday, as Jameson Taillon successfully underwent surgery to repair a partially torn tendon in his ankle. Taillon tweeted out that he “feels amazing” and is “ready to dominate the rehab process.” New York original estimated a five-month recovery period, so there is a chance Taillon could return to baseball activity before the end of spring training. He will look to build off his 2021 campaign — during which he made 29 starts, going 8-6 with a 4.30 ERA, 4.43 FIP, and 140 strikeouts in 144.1 innings — in his final year of arbitration eligibility in 2022.

MLB.com | Jim Callis: Yankees GM Brian Cashman announced during his end-of-the-year press conference that New York would pursue a shortstop this winter. With top prospect Anthony Volpe rapidly ascending through the minor league system, there is uncertainty whether the Yankees would pursue one of the big-ticket shortstops — Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Trevor Story, Marcus Semien, or Javier Báez — or opt for a stopgap while waiting for Volpe to arrive. Callis reckons New York will lean toward the former course of action, as Volpe is more than a year away from the majors. In addition, he doesn’t foresee potential free agents being turned off by Volpe’s eventual arrival at short — something that would necessitate a move off the position for the incumbent.

Yahoo Sports Canada | Thomas Williams: Speaking of Marcus Semien, he may have become a whole lot more expensive. Ahead of his foray into free agency, he hired superagent Scott Boras. He is hitting the market at just the right time, having signed a one-year, $18 million “prove it” deal with Toronto last offseason, and boy did he prove it. He placed second among all AL position players with 6.6 fWAR — just behind teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — and fourth on the AL home run leaderboard with 45. Even though he will be entering his age-31 season, he has surely done enough to earn a multi-year, nine-figure deal, and has expressed a desire to remain with the Blue Jays.

MLB Trade Rumors | Mark Polishuk: This one comes via Lindsey Adler of The Athletic (subscription required) as she goes over various topics in the Yankees Mailbag. She discusses two of the players with their futures most up in the air: Gary Sánchez and Luke Voit. Adler believes the Yankees will tender Sánchez a contract for 2022 — his final year of arbitration eligibility — rather than non-tender him and explore starting catching options among a thin crop available around the league. As for Voit, there’s a chance the Yankees could shop the oft-injured first baseman around, much like they did at the trade deadline.

NJ Advance Media | Mike Rosenstein: In a move that shocked the baseball world, the Padres announced Thursday that they would be hiring Bob Melvin away from the A’s to be their manager. Melvin replaces Jayce Tingler — relieved of his duties as San Diego manager on October 6th — and will sign a three-year contract. This is quite a coup for the Padres, as Melvin is widely considered to be one of the best managers around the game. As for the A’s, this could signal the start of a full-blown retool, and with a handful of impact players growing more expensive in arbitration — including Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Sean Manaea, and Chris Bassitt — look for the Yankees to at least check in on their availability. Also, props to anyone who recalled that Melvin was a catcher for the Yankees for nine days in 1994.