Around the Empire: Yankees news - 5/12/22

theScore | Tom Ruminski: It’s no secret that Aaron Judge is off to a torrid start at the plate, putting up MVP-caliber numbers after the first month and a bit of the season. Back in the offseason, the organization’s extension talks with Judge all but flamed out as the two sides failed to reach an agreement, meaning the face of the New York Yankees would hit the free agent market at season’s end. Coming on the heels of his dramatic walk-off home run, Brian Cashman said that, while talks with Judge may resume throughout the season, they will not be made public at this time.

NJ.com | Randy Miller: In the sixth inning of Tuesday night’s game, Giancarlo Stanton hit a game-tying rocket to right field off of Toronto Blue Jays reliever Yimi García. Two pitches later, on an 0-1 count, García plunked Josh Donaldson on a fastball up-and-in. This hit-by-pitch led to the bizarre ejection of García after a brief meeting of the umpires and eventually led to the further ejections of Blue Jays pitching coach Pete Walker and manager Charlie Montoyo. The HBP came in a tie game on an 0-1 count, and put the go-ahead run on base. Both Aaron Boone and Donaldson (and probably a lot of viewers) didn’t feel it was intentional, so why were there so many ejections without warnings issued? Well, according to Montoyo, Alfonzo Marquez told him they deemed it intentional because Donaldson had gotten into a bit of a dust-up with Jays catcher Tyler Heineman a little earlier in the game. The ump show continues.

New York Post | Dan Martin: Joey Gallo’s struggles after coming to New York at the trade deadline last year were much publicized. 2022 has, unfortunately, been mostly more of the same for Joey Gallo, as the slugger oftentimes looks like a shell of himself at the plate. While Yankees fans may be running out of patience with him, one very important person isn’t: Brian Cashman. He still thinks Gallo has a lot to bring to the table despite his poor start, and he’s eager to see what this team will look like once he starts producing.

New York Post | Joel Sherman: The big news of the day came when Cashman announced that any in-season contract extension talks with Judge would not be made public. But, lost in the shuffle of a failure to agree in the offseason and a hot start from Judge, is the fact that Judge is still waiting to learn how much money he’s going to make this year. As Joel Sherman points out, the two sides have six weeks left to settle on a one-year deal to avoid an arbitration hearing. The last we heard, Judge was seeking $21 million and the Yankees countered with $17 million. Hold onto your butts, folks. This saga could get wild.