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New York Post | Joel Sherman: Building on news from earlier this week, Joel Sherman reports that the Yankees are “monitoring the elite shortstop group rather than participating in it,” speculating that the team is looking to see if the market for one of the top guys collapses in the combination of the deep free agent class and the likely-lockout-induced winter. But why might the Yankees employ such a strategy? Sherman sees two possible reasons.
The first — that the team does not want to block top shortstop prospects Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza — is utterly ridiculous, as prospects are fickle things. The other is somehow even more ridiculous, which is that the Yankees might want to limit themselves to three mega-deals (Giancarlo Stanton and Gerrit Cole being the other two), and for the moment, Aaron Judge is the guy they want to give that contract to.
NJ.com | Randy Miller: In the midst of Matt Olson trade rumors, the Yankees’ pursuit of Justin Verlander, and the 40-man roster crunch, you may have missed that the New York Mets have a new general manger, Billy Eppler. Eppler, who most recently served as the general manager of the Los Angeles Angels from 2015 to 2020, was Brian Cashman’s assistant GM from 2012 to 2015. At his first press conference, the new GM was asked if the close relationship between himself and Cashman might signal a more active relationship between the Yankees and Mets front offices, who have made exactly 3 deals in the last 24 years. In response, Eppler pointed out that the Angels and Yankees never made a deal in his five years at the helm, speculating that their “similar methodologies for valuing players” make it difficult to pull deals together.
ESPN | Associated Press: Major League Baseball announced yesterday that Japanese outfielder Seiya Suzuki will be posted by the Hiroshima Toyo Carp and will be available to negotiate with clubs starting Monday morning. The 27-year-old right fielder had a big year in 2021, batting .319/.436/.640 with 38 home runs and a 1.075 OPS; additionally, he started for the Japanese squad that beat the American team twice to win the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Although corner outfield isn’t exactly a position of need for the Yankees, who already have three power bats at the position, Suzuki does represent an intriguing bat on the market, one that all baseball fans should keep an eye on.