Around the Empire: Yankees news - 4/18/21

New York Post | Greg Joyce: One of the few bright spots of a bad open to the 2021 season has been Gary Sánchez, boasting a 124 wRC+ and looking more comfortable behind the plate than we’ve seen him recently. Yet, because these are the 2021 Yankees and we cannot have good things, Gary left yesterday’s game against the Rays after taking a foul ball off his right hand, which proceeded to swell up something ugly. X-rays were negative, and Sánchez is day-to-day. With Gerrit Cole going today and tomorrow off, it’s unlikely Gary would have played before Tuesday anyway, so hopefully he’s back suited up then.

New York Daily News | Mike Lupica: Perhaps the worst part of the season so far has been how comprehensive the Yankees’ badness has been. It’s one thing to have a team consistently losing because a bullpen blows a lead or something like that. It’s another to so often just be uncompetitive in every aspect of the game, which has happened to the Yankees too frequently in April. The Yankees just don’t scare anyone right now, and that has to change for them to make a deep October run.

Sports Illustrated | Max Goodman: One of the least-scary parts of the Yankee roster has been Jay Bruce, and it appears the experiment with him is over. No official decision has been made about his status, but Yankee manager Aaron Boone confirmed that DJ LeMahieu will be at first base for the near future, and Rougned Odor is the full-time second baseman. Happy trails, in practice if not in theory, Jay.

Forbes | Shlomo Sprung: Today is the day! If you are in the tri-state area and are an Amazon Prime subscriber, you can stream today’s matchup with the Rays through Prime Video. This is the first such streaming, coming almost a year and a half after the Yankees entered into a partnership with Amazon and Sinclair Broadcasting to buy back the YES Network.