Around the Empire: Yankees news - 7/16/22

MLB Trade Rumors | TC Zencka: Mark Feinsand of MLB.com revealed yesterday that the Yankees had emerged as “serious contenders” to trade for Andrew Benintendi. This news is something of a shocking U-turn given previous reports that the Yankees would not pursue unvaccinated players — something which prevented Benintendi from traveling with the Royals to Toronto. The former top Red Sox prospect is having his best season in years, slashing .319/.389/.402 with a 128 wRC+ and decent defense (one DRS, 12.7 UZR/150, zero OAA) albeit with almost non-existent power (three home runs). The Bombers could certainly use the help in the outfield, given Joey Gallo’s struggles and Aaron Hicks’ inconsistency.

Yahoo! Sports | Jack Baer: The Juan Soto sweepstakes are in full swing, and the Nationals have officially named their asking price. They are seeking out four to five youngsters — either top prospects or productive big leaguers with multiple years of team control. They would also love to be able to move the two years and roughly $50 million owed to Patrick Corbin after this season. The Yankees are one of the few teams with the financial might and prospect capital to pull off a trade of this magnitude, and according to YES Network’s Jack Curry, they have contacted the Nationals to express interest in the all-world outfielder. It remains to be seen how willing they would be to relinquish all three of their top prospects — Anthony Volpe, Jasson Dominguez and Oswald Peraza — given their extreme reluctance to part with even one this past winter.

ESPN: The Yankees have officially placed Michael King on the 60-day IL, all but ending his 2022 campaign. He fractured his right elbow throwing a breaking ball in the eighth inning of Friday’s 7-6 victory over the Orioles. It’s a crushing blow for the Yankees and the 27-year-old righty reliever given the amount of work he put in to transforming himself into one of the premier relievers in the game. They have a tall task ahead of them replacing his production — second among qualified relievers in innings pitched, strikeouts, and fWAR — at the back end of the bullpen.

NJ.com | Randy Miller: As part of the effort to replace that production, the Yankees announced they were calling up Clarke Schmidt as well as selecting the contract of veteran reliever Shane Greene to the major league roster. The pair represent much-needed reinforcements to a suddenly depleted bullpen that has now seen King and Chad Green suffer season-ending injuries and Aroldis Chapman and Jonathan Loáisiga regress heavily. Schmidt’s made 14 appearances in the bigs this year, pitching to a 3.00 ERA, 4.07 FIP, and 21 strikeouts in 24 innings. Greene has pitched 15 outings at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, logging a 3.86 ERA, 4.52 FIP, and 22 strikeouts in 21 innings as he returns to the Yankees eight years after making his major league debut with the team.