Around the Empire: Yankees news - 4/22/23

MLB.com | Keegan Matheson: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has firmly established himself as a true rival to the Yankees, hitting plenty of home runs and driving up the animosity. There’s no love lost either way, as Vlad Jr. mentioned over the offseason that he would never join the Yankees in his career. Prior to this series, he reiterated his stance on the matter, adding that he loves playing in Yankee Stadium but only for showing up his division rivals.

North Jersey | Pete Caldera: Anthony Volpe has made himself a mainstay in the Yankee lineup, and Oswald Peraza is bidding to as well. There’s a host of other prospects on the verge of making it though, and Caldera dives into the 10 most likely to earn a callup this year, five arms and five bats.

NY Post | Greg Joyce: There was a lot of speculation during the preseason about which players would benefit from the shift being banned, and Anthony Rizzo’s name was one of the most common answers. The shift ban may have been a bit overstated because there is no accompanying ban for the outfield, meaning one of them can cheat in and sit just outside of the infield dirt, but still Rizzo’s game has been solid in the early going. That’s a boon for the Yankees, who need the lefty slugger’s bat to stay near the top of the lineup.

NJ.com | Kevin Manahan: Derek Jeter’s days as an MLB owner are behind him now, but that doesn’t mean the post-mortem from his time running the Marlins is over yet. Former executive David Samson got into some of the details of how he and Jeter ran opposed missions in Miami and likened Jeter’s stint as CEO to the infamous Seinfeld character George Costanza running the Yankees. There’s bad blood here as Samson (who, it should be noted, helped oversee a decade plus of bad Marlins baseball) was one of the employees let go by Jeter and co. without warning, with Samson personally finding out via ESPN first, but it’s also no secret that the Marlins never really turned things around during Jeter’s run with the franchise either aside from the odd 2020 COVID year.

MLB Trade Rumors | Dai Takegami Podziewski: The NPB is one of the richest pipelines of talent to MLB, with several star Japanese players shifting careers over to the States and a number of names popping up in discussions each offseason. If you’re curious about some of the upcoming players that could be arriving in the big leagues soon, check this out for a detailed look at the next wave of NPB talent building up.