Around the Empire: Yankees news - 4/8/21

TSN: Yankee star Aaron Judge felt some soreness in his side during Tuesday night’s game against the Orioles, and then missed yesterday’s contest. The Yankees aren’t making any injured list moves, instead hoping that when combined with the off-day today, a couple days of rest will be enough for Judge to recover (though Aaron Boone made no guarantees about Friday). He’s dealt with oblique injuries in the past, and after two straight games with a home run, looked to be heating up in the early goings of the season.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: This weekend’s series with Tampa Bay will have more than the usual stakes between the perennial AL East competitors. It’s the Rays’ Opening Weekend, and they’ll raise their American League pennant to the rafters before Friday’s game. Several Yankees will use the ceremony as motivation, and you can expect the team as a whole to approach the series as a proving ground of sorts after being dumped from the postseason by Tampa last year.

New York Post | Andrew Marchand: As we approach the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, former Yankees manager Joe Torre and former Mets manager Bobby Valentine will serve as executive producers on a Turner Sports documentary on the attacks and baseball. Mike Piazza’s home run is the stuff of legend as the rubble of the World Trade Center still smoldered, and the Yankees’ pennant-clinching season was an inarguable part of the city’s healing process.

Sports Illustrated | Max Goodman (via Twitter): The Yankees should get some bullpen help on Friday, as Boone indicated that Justin Wilson will most likely return to the big league club. The veteran lefty had missed first week of the season after some shoulder tightness at the end of spring training, but he threw batting practice on Saturday and seems to be progressing well. The Yankees won’t need to make a roster move to activate him, as they already demoted Michael King after a 68-pitch outing.