Around the Empire: Yankees news - 5/2/23

ESPN | Joon Lee: The Yankees have been going through rough waters already with their offense, and it wasn’t alleviated when Aaron Judge had to exit a game a day after taking a hard slide into third base on a steal attempt. Aaron Boone told the media that Judge was dealing with a hip injury and was waiting to see if it was a day-to-day deal, but they ultimately bit the bullet and placed him on the 10-day IL retroactive to April 28th.

NJ.com | Max Goodman: There was a second bit of injury news, and it was even bleaker. Jonathan Loáisiga is set to a have a bone spur removed today, sidelining him for several weeks without any pitching activity and setting him up for an August-September timeline. That’s hard to hear for a core member of the bullpen, particularly when they’ve had some struggles with Clay Holmes at the top of the pecking order.

Sports Illustrated | Patrick McAvoy: It’s no secret that the Yankees are hurting with their outfield depth right now, but even when they’re at full strength there’ll be a hole somewhere in the grass. The Cardinals have had an even more surprisingly-bad month than the Yanks, and if they don’t turn the ship around fast could be heading into the deadline as sellers for the first time in a long time. Even before it gets to that point, they have a lot of outfield depth and some needs elsewhere, so perhaps the Yankees could get on the phone with them to discuss another deal. Last year’s Bader-Montgomery swap raised some eyebrows, but it ended up paying off for both sides at some point.

The Ringer | Ben Lindbergh: The pitch clock has been the headline story of the 2023 season, as everyone felt its impact in spring with several violations before the players adjusted and managed to significantly lower the game time for the average MLB game. Another major affect of the change, however, has been the uniformity of games ending — its become highly consistent that the East Coast games all end before the West Coast night games, and the latter barely go past midnight.