Around the Empire: Yankees news - 10/15/23

SNY | Phillip Martínez: The Yankees acquired Frankie Montas before last year’s trade deadline to bolster their rotation. Shoulder injuries completely derailed his stint with the team and limited him to 39.2 innings of a 6.35 ERA in 2022 and 1.1 frames in the final weekend of the 2023 campaign.

Montas is now scheduled to hit free agency, and Martínez examines reasons to re-sign him and to let him to. He reaches the conclusion that “with his shoulder seemingly healthy and if the Yanks can bring him back on a team-friendly deal, the Montas experiment is worth trying again in 2024.”

NY Daily News | Gary Phillips: With the offseason already underway (for the Yankees, at least), Phillips evaluates the outlook each and every prospect or prominent young player (25 or younger) that made his MLB debut in 2023 or had the chance to play at some point this year. He does this exercise individually and talks about Anthony Volpe, Jasson Domínguez, Estevan Florial, Everson Pereira, Oswald Peraza, Oswaldo Cabrera, Yoendrys Gómez, Jhony Brito, Randy Vásquez, and Austin Wells.

Phillips says that Brito, Vásquez, and Gómez are all capable of fighting for bullpen spots, Wells could challenge for the starting catching gig, and Peraza and Volpe will need to improve, although the former has a more concrete role. The future of Cabrera and Pereira might involve some time in Triple-A, but they will be options to contribute in MLB should they show more in spring training. Domínguez will be a big factor once he returns from his elbow injury.

NJ Advance Media | Max Goodman: There are four teams in the race for the World Series title: the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Texas Rangers, the Houston Astros, and the Philadelphia Phillies. Per Goodman, the Yankees can learn a thing or two from each one of them.

“Houston’s ability to embrace change, while also making sacrifices to bring back familiar faces, has propelled them forward, too,” he says about the Astros, and it could apply to the Yankees. From the Rangers, he discusses how they prioritize acquisition of pitching assets and how the Bombers didn’t value Jordan Montgomery last year, implying he wasn’t going to be a factor in the postseason.

“They’ve just been spending in the wrong places, creating a roster that’s poorly constructed, betting on older, oft-injured players,” Goodman writes about the Yanks, also pointing out that the Phillies have similarly spent a lot but have allocated those resources well enough to compete at the highest level. Regarding the D-backs, they have embraced youth, something the Yankees only did late in the season when they were out of the race.