Around the Empire: Yankees news - 8/25/23

New York Post | Mike Vaccaro: The most fascinating free agent case of all time took on a new wrinkle on Wednesday, with the news that Shohei Ohtani has torn his UCL. While no plans for surgery have been announced at time of writing, the risk profile of inking the unicorn in the offseason changed considerably. Despite that, he’ll be the premier free agent of this winter’s class, and the Yankees shouldn’t be shied away from the arm issues when players like Bryce Harper and Ohtani himself have shown the ability to be elite hitters even post-UCL injury.

New York Daily News | Mike Lupica: Brian Cashman was refreshingly candid in his presser Wednesday afternoon, admitting the 2023 season is a disaster. Where Cashman fell short was in his promise that the entire organization would be evaluated in the offseason, with the implication that his presence and performance would be allowed to continue. Whichever way you slice it, Cashman’s in charge of the organization and if it’s a disaster, the leadership therein must be evaluated as critically as any other part.

Yahoo! Sports | Phillip Martinez: Everson Pereira made his major-league debut, drove in his first MLB run, and recorded his first hit in successive days against the Nationals. It’s been as clean a start to a career as we could have hoped for from the Yankees #3 prospect, who also has an outfield assist already under his belt. As he progressively checks off every item on a FanGraphs spreadsheet, Pereria fully admits to having the best time of his life since being called up. He’ll be given plenty of running room to keep making an impact, and hopefully can keep his good vibes going.

Sports Illustrated | Patrick McAvoy: In the aforementioned press conference, Cashman was asked about the possibility of top prospect Jasson Domínguez being promoted to the Major League roster before the end of the year. Domínguez was recently moved to Triple-A Scranton, and while the smart money is on a spring training competition a la 2023 Anthony Volpe, Cashman himself answered the question with a whimsical “we’ll see”.