Around the Empire: Yankees news - 10/4/23

SNY | Andy Martino: For weeks, the expectation at the end of the season was that an outside consultancy firm would come in evaluate how the Yankees run their analytics department. But according to Andy Martino, the Yankees themselves will be the ones going to a firm and observing how they operate. It’s not impossible that the Yankees could learn from observing a non-baseball organization. After all, their issues seem centered around communication of analytical information, rather than issues with data collection. You don’t necessarily need a baseball a background to be an expert in that, but regardless, this decision seems like a weird one!

The Athletic | Ken Rosenthal: The evaluation of the Jordan Montgomery-Harrison Bader trade has flipped flopped a couple times, but now after a year and a half have gone by, it’s fair to assume the Yankees were worse off. In his interview with Ken Rosenthal, Montgomery stated he felt the Yanks had given up on him, but that the move was for the better. After having success in both St. Louis and even more so with Texas, Montgomery has every right to feel that the Yankees made a mistake in letting him go, especially considering the performances of starting pitchers acquired by the team since then. For a while, the narrative was that Montgomery wouldn’t be a playoff starter, but he took the mound last night to open a playoff series. Even with the injuries of Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer, it is still an impressive feat for the former Yankee.

The Ringer | Ben Lindbergh: The rarity of the top three teams by payroll all missing the playoffs is a bizarre one. In this piece, Lindbergh explored the history of a similar type events, the bad luck, and bad decisions associated with these three teams. There is no one reason to explain how this happened, but in the case of the Yankees, losing a lot of value to injuries is a good one. Is that a good enough excuse? Probably not. But Lindbergh reminds readers that the Yankees also spent the most money on injured players – an extremely important wrinkle.

NJ Advanced Media | Randy Miller: Are you a playoff baseball watcher even when the Yankees are rarely not in it? If so, Randy Miller has a guide for why to root for each team as a fan of the Bronx Bombers. It’s an interesting landscape of teams, and depending on your perspective, you may have interests in seeing one of the rise to the top (or fall down).

New York Post | Joel Sherman: After the future Hall of Famer is calling it a career, Cleveland is in search of a replacement. Yankees fan might not love it, but that may come from their own clubhouse. Carlos Mendoza, the Yanks’ bench coach, is on the shortlist to head the Guardians in wake of Terry Francona’s departure.