Around the Empire: Yankees news - 4/23/21

MLB Trade Rumors | Connor Byrne: Luke Voit is slowly making his way back to the Yankees’ lineup. Skipper Aaron Boone said that the team could be just two weeks out from seeing the 2020 home run king return from knee surgery. He’ll take batting practice in Scranton next week and could appear in rehab games shortly thereafter. They might be alternate site contests, though the RailRiders’ season gets underway on May 4th in Syracuse, so Triple-A games are in play as well.

The Ringer | Michael Baumann: It’s easy for folks who hate the Yankees to laugh at them while they’re down, but Baumann notes that it’s hard to feel too confident that their struggles will continue. This offense simply has too many talented pure hitters to sit near the bottom of the league for too long. The regression to the mean is coming. It’s just a matter of time.

NJ.com | Brendan Kuty via Twitter: The Yankees still do not have a Sunday starter announced for the finale against Cleveland, and it could end up being Deivi García. The 21-year-old righty last pitched on Monday at the alternate site and is traveling with the team on the taxi squad, so Boone remarked that the Yankees have the option of starting him on Sunday*, or perhaps on Monday or Tuesday when the team travels to Baltimore. Nothing is decided yet, but García’s 2021 debut might be just around the corner.

*Update: Jameson Taillon will now start Sunday, though Deivi could still very well face the Orioles.

The Ringer | Ryan Ruocco & CC Sabathia: The latest guest on the R2C2 podcast is one who Yankees fans are mildly familiar with if my sources are correct: Jorge Posada. After some choice words from CC to assuage fans’ panic about the current team, the dynasty catcher joined the show to discuss his career (including the tough times in 2011), his friendship with Derek Jeter, and so much of the work that went on behind the scenes to catch such a wide array of pitchers.