Around the Empire: Yankees news - 1/13/23

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Aaron Boone has a pair of aces with Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón on the staff together, but the group at large gives him a hand that’s tough for anyone to beat. The offseason addition on top of months of rest lets Boone weigh the option of keeping Domingo Germán and Clarke Schmidt with the team as long relievers or keeping them stretched out in Triple-A. Having two starters who got a not-insignificant amount of starts in the bigs last year just waiting in the wings is an invaluable hoard of arms — and as we all know, you can never have enough pitching.

ESPN | Buster Olney: Speaking of Triple-A, it’s going to look a little different this year. MLB has reportedly decided to test out automatic balls and strikes in the highest level of the minors, a few years after having the system trialed in the Atlantic League (it has since moved on to parts of Low-A and the Arizona Fall League). For half of the league, all calls will be made by ABS, while in the other half ABS will be used as a challenge system.

NJ.com | Mike Rosenstein: One-time Yankee Matt Holliday was set to become the bench coach for the St. Louis Cardinals after taking up the position a few months ago, but he’s decided against joining Oliver Marmol’s staff. Holliday cited wanting to stay at home with his kids, a factor that seemed manageable with the season months out but more difficult once the reality of the situation became closer. Hard to fault him for that, and the Cardinals have made a swap to get a new bench coach in time (Joe McEwing), so best of luck in retirement Matt!

NY Post | Jon Heyman: The Dodgers made the right move at the last second, waiving Trevor Bauer after he was eligible to be reinstated by MLB last week. Bauer passed through waivers and became an outright free agent after the Dodgers couldn’t find a trade, leaving the rest of the league wondering if anyone wants to even touch the mess that would come with him. That place won’t be the Yankees, as Heyman’s sources indicated that neither New York teams have any interest there.