Around the Empire: Yankees news - 7/28/23

New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: The sense around the Yankees right now is that this upcoming three-game set against the Orioles at Camden Yards may have an outsized impact on the team’s deadline strategy. If the club wins the series, makes up ground in the Wild Card chase, and returns Aaron Judge from injury (not to mention pitchers Nestor Cortes and Jonathan Loáisiga), it’s easy to envision them making a move to supplement the roster, likely for an outfielder. If the Yankees are swept out of Baltimore? All bets are off.

New York Post | Greg Joyce: These next few games could impact the team’s deadline plans, and beyond that, this next 10-game stretch stands out as crucial. After three with the Orioles, the Yankees will return for a seven-game homestand against the Rays and Astros, two teams they’re chasing in the standings. New York probably needs a strong run through those matchups to stay in the hunt.

FanGraphs | FanGraphs Staff: It appears Shohei Ohtani won’t be going anywhere this summer, with the Angels buying at the trade deadline. But FanGraphs went through the exercise of mocking out the deadline as if Ohtani would be moved, and came up with potential offers from all 29 other teams. Our own Alex Eisert played the role of Brian Cashman, and offered the Angels Jasson Domínguez, Oswald Peraza, Clarke Schmidt, and Chase Hampton. It’s a hefty offer, one that would’ve given the Angels a high-upside outfield prospect, a mid-rotation arm, a high-floor MLB infielder, and talented pitching prospect in Hampton. Of course, this won’t come to pass now, but it’s a fun exercise to read through.

New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: The Yankees brought Andy Pettitte back into the fold in an advisory role earlier this week, and it sounds as though the plan for the former All-Star is to get him acclimated to the current roster. “I hope I could be just a good sounding board for some guys. I’ve been through all this, walked through it” Pettitte said.

There haven’t been many specifics about what exactly Pettitte’s job will be with the team, but it seems as though getting him up to speed with the team and how things are done in the modern game will be the goal for this year, with Pettitte set to stick around in 2024 (though he admitted he “doesn’t see himself working” as a full-time pitching coach for any team).

Lastly, this is a small note because it ultimately does not pertain to the Yankees (much to Kunj Shah’s chagrin), but former reliever David Robertson is on the move again. He’ll go the Marlins for the home stretch of 2023 as the Fish fight for their first playoff spot in a full season since 2003.