Around the Empire: Yankees news - 2/6/21

ESPN | Associated Press: The public was allowed into Yankee Stadium for the first time since the 2019 playoffs yesterday, but it wasn’t for a baseball game. Friday was its first day as a COVID-19 mass vaccination site. With the Bronx suffering the most among the five boroughs in the fight against the COVID-19 virus — it has the highest rate of positive tests in New York City — the Stadium will serve only Bronx residents to help get the outbreak under control. The vaccination site will be open seven days a week, from 8 AM to 8 PM, and currently has 15,000 appointments available per week.

I urge any of our Bronx readers to take advantage of this opportunity when they become eligible, and in the meantime, to continue to wear masks and engage in social distancing.

FanGraphs | Eric Longenhagen: FanGraphs has been releasing their annual reports of the league’s farm systems. To nobody’s surprise, super-prospect Jasson Dominguez took the top spot, with Deivi García following behind him and Clarke Schmidt coming in at number four in the ranking. On the other side of the coin, Oswald Peraza (who has never played above Single-A) came in at number three with an expected arrival time of 2022, while Estevan Florial has fallen all the way to thirty. It’s a long piece, but if you have the time and are interested in the Yankees’ farm system, it’s worth a read.

Bryan Hoch: Just a quick piece of news from Bryan Hoch’s Twitter: Yankees pitchers and catchers will be reporting to spring training on Wednesday, February 17, while position players will report the following Monday, February 22.

NJ.com | Joe Giglio: With a false headline implying that his thought experiment is an actual rumor, Joe Giglio discusses the implication of a possible trade between the New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs that would bring Javier Báez to the Bronx. Now, on the surface, I don’t have a problem with the premise — Báez is a great player, despite a lackluster 2020 (59 OPS+); neither does the price tag seem alarming, although I question whether a trio of Anthony Volpe, Kevin Alcantara, and T.J. Sikkema would actually get a deal done. But Giglio puts forward a lineup that is simply unplayable on a day-to-day basis, with Báez at short, Gleyber Torres at second, DJ LeMahieu to first, Luke Voit to the DH spot, Giancarlo Stanton to left field, Clint Frazier to right field, and Aaron Judge to center field. Ignored is Aaron Hicks, or the Yankees’ tendency to rotate players on a day-to-day basis. More likely, should this trade happen, LeMahieu would return to the multi-position starter role that he filled in 2019.