Around the Empire: Yankees news - 3/17/22

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said that he will indeed talk with superstar Aaron Judge prior to Opening Day about a possible extension. Judge said on Tuesday that he wants to stay in pinstripes, but that he will not discuss a contract during the season. He’s set to hit free agency after the 2022 campaign, and Brian Cashman has said that would like Judge to return. The question, as always, is whether the price will be right.

MLB Trade Rumors | Darragh McDonald: On the topic of Cashman, he might not necessarily be done filling out the 2022 roster. Reports have linked the Yankees to two pitchers from the A’s, who are in the midst of a fire sale after already dealing Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, and Chris Bassitt. The pitchers in question this time are Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas, both of whom we’ve profiled in past trade target posts. (Check out the links for some background.) Some pitching help couldn’t hurt, given the injury risks in the current Yankees rotation.

New York Daily News | Kristie Ackert: Pour one out for Luke Voit. For the second time in less than a year, the Yankees acquired Anthony Rizzo to be their primary first baseman. He understands at this point that it just is what it is, and he seemed frank about the fact that he may well be on his way out of town soon due to his lack of positional flexibility. There’s a chance that the Yankees could hold on to Voit to DH and serve as injury insurance, but it feels unlikely.

In another part of this article, DJ LeMahieu said that he doesn’t have a problem rotating around different infield positions in 2022. Depending on who happens to be resting on any given day, LeMahieu has the ability to spell Gleyber Torres at second, Josh Donaldson at third, and Rizzo at first. Technically, he might not be in the Opening Day lineup (which seems incredible given his status a year ago), but depending on Torres’ struggles and others’ injuries, there’s probably no reason to be concerned about him finding playing time.

Twitter notes

Kansas City Royals: The Yankees lost one of their longest-living players yesterday, as pitcher Ralph Terry passed away at age 86. The All-Star right-hander had two separate stints with New York, as he was signed by them a couple months shy of his 18th birthday and debuted in 1956. Terry was sent to the Kansas City A’s for seasoning in June of ‘57, only to have the essential farm club trade him back to the Bronx in May of ‘59.

Terry came into his own in 1960 but was the unfortunate man on the mound when Bill Mazeroski broke New York hearts in Game 7 of the World Series. Some players might’ve faltered and let that define their baseball life, but not Terry. He was one of the main starters on the ‘61 champions and had a career year in ‘62, leading the AL with 23 wins, 39 starts, and 298.2 innings. The All-Star was tapped for three World Series starts against the fierce Giants of Willie Mays and Willie McCovey, and he was brilliant. Terry was named the Fall Classic MVP with a 1.80 ERA across 25 innings, twirling a four-hit shutout in Game 7 and surviving a scary McCovey drive to clinch the Yankees’ 20th World Series title.

That was the apex of Terry’s career, and after pitching for two more AL pennant-winners in ‘63 and ‘64, the Yankees dealt him to Cleveland. He played for three more seasons and called it a career after two games with the ‘67 Mets. Terry found new life in another sport, golf, as he competed in 106 PGA events, including many years on the Senior Tour. He retired to Larnard, Kansas, where he resided at the time of his passing.

Rest in peace, Ralph Terry.

The Athletic | Lindsey Adler: This is a small note on an amendment to the Yankees’ regular season schedule, but it’s worth keeping in mind. Remember those games that MLB briefly lost because the owners locked out the players and ultimately delayed Opening Day? The make-up times for those lost games against the Rangers and Astros have been announced, as the Yankees will end 2022 in Arlington and split up the three games missed in Houston:

Yankees PR: In the last bit of news cleanup today, the Yankees officially announced three more non-roster invitees to camp: Phillip Evans, Ronald Guzmán, and Ryan LaMarre.

The Guzmán addition was revealed a few days ago, but the Evans and LaMarre bits were relatively new. The Yankees have no Triple-A first base depth right now, so the former Ranger Guzmán will fill likely fill in there. Evans has been a utilityman throughout his four-year career since 2017 (with a lot of time at Triple-A), and the outfielder LaMarre was of course on the Yankees last year for a spell as they battled with COVID absences.

Lastly, Josh hosted a Twitter Spaces talk with Esteban and Peter last night, and they talked for a good hour about the jam-packed bunch of Yankees moves over the past week. Check it out here!