Around the Empire: Yankees news - 7/26/23

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Finally, there’s some light in the darkness that’s been the Yankees season since June 3. Aaron Judge is in Tampa at the Yankees’ spring training complex playing simulated games and getting ready to hopefully join the team soon. When asked if the Orioles series this weekend was a possibility, Aaron Boone wouldn’t rule it out. Another note in here is that Jonathan Loáisiga is also down in Tampa as he looks to pitch simulated games, so he could be on his way back soon as well.

Forbes | Bernie Pleskoff: The buzz around the upcoming trade deadline is obviously centered around whether or not the Angels will trade Shohei Ohtani. If they are making him available, every team in baseball should call and see if they could acquire the unicorn. If the Yankees could manage to snag him, having him and Judge in the same lineup could be akin to the days of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. It’s a pipe dream, for sure, but at the very least according to Jon Heyman, the Yankees (along with “most contending teams”) have called the Angels to check in on Ohtani’s availability.

New York Post | Joel Sherman: This past Sunday capped a wonderful weekend in The Bronx. The Yankees had seemingly come to life and finished a sweep of the lowly Royals. The next step is to see whether that was just a mirage of a mediocre team beating up a very bad team, or if it was actually a sign of life from the lifeless Bombers. Tuesday’s game against the Mets was most definitely not a step in the right direction.

NorthJersey.com | Pete Caldera & Andrew Tredinnick: I don’t much care for trade proposals, they’re almost always wrong and we never truly know which players teams are actually discussing in their talks. Still, anyone who suggests a trade for David Robertson automatically gets my attention. With the Subway Series wrapping up tonight, this discussion looks at whether the Yankees and Mets could align before the deadline next week. In case you don’t know where I stand on this possibility: I support it.

Baltimore Sun | Jacques Kelly: As I was wandering the depths of the internet in search of news for today’s link roundup, this appeared. It’s a story about a time when Mickey Mantle was arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct in 1966. It’s a very random thing to be putting in here, but maybe you like reading random things or maybe you just need a break from the 2023 Yankees overall. It was something I didn’t need to include here, but the randomness forced my hand.