Around the Empire: Yankees news - 7/5/22

New York Daily News | Kristie Ackert: A year ago, Clay Holmes was a middling reliever with a five-plus ERA on a bad Pirates team. As the Yankees head to Pittsburgh to begin a two-game series tonight, Holmes is just about the best relief arm in baseball, and shares something of a prodigal son story with fellow ex-Pirates Jameson Taillon and Gerrit Cole. The wealth of pitching talent that’s been lost in Pittsburgh and gained at their expense would make an interesting book.

New York Post | Jon Heyman: The Yankees are the best team in baseball, and its not an accident. Careful roster construction has helped, but so has the on-the-fly adjustments the organization has made, including giving Aaron Judge more time in center field and trusting Michael King and the abovementioned Holmes to lock games down out of the bullpen.

NJ.com | Brendan Kuty: Surely Matt Carpenter won’t be able to maintain his 252 wRC+ all year, but until he cools off, it sounds like the Yankees are prepared to be more creative in getting the reborn slugger into the lineup. He’s already seen time at first, third and DH this year, and played an inning in right on Sunday, with Aaron Boone indicating that the team will try and move him in and out of lineups more in the upcoming series with Pittsburgh. With both Josh Donaldson and Joey Gallo mired in cold streaks, getting Carp’s bat into the lineup is becoming a key focus, and newfound positional versatility helps with that.

New York Daily News | Matthew Roberson: As if to mirror our first story, if there’s a vulnerability to the Yankee bullpen, its been usage. There are three or four spots in the bullpen that are still up for grabs, and as we approach the August 2nd trade deadline, shoring up relief depth would take the load off the two stars at the top of the reliever depth chart, and give the club more weapons as it prepares for tighter October games.