Around the Empire: Yankees news - 3/7/23

New York Post | Steve Serby: It’s easy to imagine, if this were a previous era, that Aaron Boone would have been cast aside as manager of the Yankees after so many playoff failures. But in today’s day and age, the front office still has Boone’s back, and importantly, so do the players. “I’ve always been vocal about how I feel about Booney and what he’s done for us,” said Aaron Judge, going on to say “You just look at how he talks about this team, how his players react to him... He fights for us on a daily basis and he’s in our corner through and through, and that’s no better guy you want steering the ship than that.” Gerrit Cole argued that Boone’s skills were extremely impressive for someone without previous managerial experience, and that he was only going to get better. Boone hasn’t broken through in October, but does possess an excellent .603 overall winning percentage with the Yankees.

NJ.com | Mike Rosenstein: After Dodgers shortstop Gavin Lux saw his season unfortunately cut down before it could even start, rumors immediately popped up connecting LA to embattled Yankee Isiah Kiner-Falefa. It doesn’t sound like those rumors were unfounded, as Bob Nightengale reports that the two sides have been in contact about Kiner-Falefa, but even so, it seems a deal is unlikely. The Dodgers have their eye on the luxury tax threshold, and could blanch at adding IKF’s $6 million guarantee for 2023.

FanGraphs | Eric Longenhagen: Check out the latest rundown of the top Yankees prospects, this one from FanGraphs. Longenhagen praises the Yankees’ ability to amplify the skills of their pitching prospects, highlighting right-hander Will Warren’s progression in 2022. However, Longenhagen also notes that this Yankee system is thinner than usual, after a couple heavy years of trades and graduations. Once the likes of Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza graduate, there will be a relative paucity of up-the-middle talent on the farm that the Yankees will have to address in the coming years.

The Yankees also announced via Twitter last night their latest round of cuts from camp. Right-hander Yoendrys Gomez, outfielder Everson Pereira and infielders Andres Chaparro and Jesus Bastidas were reassigned to minor league camp.