Around the Empire: Yankees news - 7/16/23

Sports Illustrated | Pat Ragazzo: As we’ve seen time and time again this season — most recently on Friday night in the Mile High City — the Yankees offense is not good, particularly in the absence of Aaron Judge. Not surprisingly, baseball analysts and insiders have linked them to pretty much every major bat on the trade market at some point or another. Yesterday, it was MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand who identified Cubs outfielder Cody Bellinger and Nationals third baseman Jeimer Candelario as fits for the beleaguered Bombers bats.

CBS Sports | RotoWire Staff: The Yankees got their first win of the second half last night, but as Matt noted in the recap, they might have lost a hitter in the process. Josh Donaldson was DHing and got hurt on a groundball in the seventh inning. After the game, manager Aaron Boone said that Donaldson will undergo an MRI and noted “it wasn’t great.” If this is an IL situation, then keep your eyes peeled on the ol’ transaction transom because Oswald Peraza is the only other infielder on the 40-man roster and might need to fly west.

WITN | Eric Gullickson: Earlier this week, East Carolina University first baseman Josh Moylan signed with the Yankees as an undrafted free agent. While that news went largely under the radar, a tweet from Jim Callis yesterday thrust this move into the spotlight: the Yankees gave Moylan a $150k signing bonus, the largest one given to an undrafted player so far this draft season, a testament to their belief in the 6-foot-4 lefty slugger who slashed .302/.412/.587 last year.

While his status as an undrafted free agent means that Moylan faces an uphill battle in his road to the Show, the league is filled with players who did not hear their name called on draft day: Larry Walker, Mike Brosseau, Bobby Bonilla, and Mike Ford are just a few players who have gone undrafted and put together Major League careers.

The Athletic | Chris Kirschner: Friday night’s game was a perfect display of everything wrong with the 2023 New York Yankees. After they had two runs after two batters, the Bombers offense flailed for the rest of the night. An infielder playing left field — Isiah Kiner-Falefa — cost Carlos Rodón two runs and gave Colorado the lead. A washed-up vet hitting on the interstate sat in the middle of the order. A pair of Quadruple-A players, Franchy Cordero and Billy McKinney, were sent up to pinch-hit in big moments. Roster construction issues didn’t necessarily cost the Yankees the game, but they cost them opportunities — and those missed opportunities have been adding up.