Around the Empire: Yankees news - 7/30/23

Forbes | Mike Ozanian: While the Yankees’ on-field performance has been somewhat lackluster in 2023, it’s performance in the sectors that Hal Steinbrenner and team ownership cares about remains stellar: $7.1 billion worth of stellar, to be precise. Financial data and bond reports that came out this week reveal that, in spite of overall fan frustration with the organization, the Yankees are “tracking comfortably ahead of 2022 levels.” What does this mean? To the bottom line, nothing is currently wrong. So congrats to Hal!! We know he deserves every penny and has done nothing wrong.

ESPN+ | Buster Olney: (subscription required) To many throughout baseball, the 2023 Yankees are an enigma. Anthony Rizzo and DJ LeMahieu are well-respected veterans playing to the backs of the baseball cards of Quadruple-A journeymen. The left fielders have collectively hit like Ronald Torreyes and played the outfield like Hanley Ramirez. And the hopes of the organization, at least among the fans, have become pinned on one player coming back and turning things around for everybody. But can one player, even the reigning MVP and AL home run king, make that much of an impact? (Homers like the one last night sure help, at least.)

Sports Illustrated | Patrick McAvoy: Over the month of July, the Yankees have been everywhere on the hot stove, linked at varying moments to Shohei Ohtani, Cody Bellinger, Randal Grichuk, Dylan Carlson, and others. But now that the deadline a little over 24 hours away, however, the Yankees may ultimately not do much at all. Because they’re only a few games out, there’s reason not to become sellers (although it does stand to wonder who might be worth actually selling), but the team’s July slide makes the decision to go all-in seem ill-advised. In the end, standing pat, hoping their veterans right the ship, and letting the chips fall where they may might just be the Yankees’ strategy in this relative disaster of a season.