Around the Empire: Yankees news - 10/11/22

FanGraphs | Jay Jaffe: After a wild weekend of postseason baseball, the ALDS kicks off tonight with the Yankees hosting the AL Central champion Cleveland Guardians. It’s been a tale of two seasons for the Yankees, but they closed the year on a good run and should be the favorites against the Guardians in the ALDS. Perhaps the biggest factor in this series is the play of each club’s bullpen — they were incredibly similar in performance, but Cleveland finds itself in the postseason with their relief corps in much less disarray than the Yankees do.

ESPN | Joon Lee: While we wait for the official ALDS roster to be announced, it’s starting to look as though DJ LeMahieu will be left off the list for this round of the playoffs. Aaron Boone confirmed Monday that DJ was still held back by his toe issue in the final series of the year down in Texas, and if he’s not able to swing through with a vertical base, he’s not that helpful to the team.

MLB.com | Anthony Castrovance: The Yankees and Guardians have a long history together, from playoff meetings to the free agent departure that landed the Yankees Aaron Judge. Nick Swisher leaving for Cleveland gave the club the comp pick at the backend of the first round of the 2013 draft, their third pick in seven slots. With so many picks in the same round, the Yankees could afford a little risk, and took a swing on a 6-foot-7 outfielder from Fresno State.

MLB Trade Rumors | Steve Adams: The Yankees have 14 players eligible for arbitration this winter, and MLBTR published their annual projections for those contracts based on historical precedent. Gleyber Torres, in his second round of arb, is the high man at $9.8 million, and in total the club is looking at about $50 mil in arb spending for 2023.