Around the Empire: Yankees news - 9/30/23

New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: Before Deion Sanders made Boulder, Colorado the center of the college football universe (seriously, check out the guest list for the USC-CU game), he happened to be a two-sport superstar, and one who donned the pinstripes. Yankees past and present take a trip down memory lane to reminisce about Coach Prime as he gets the Buffs ready to try to take down the Trojans. Did you know that one time, Deion and Bo Jackson both starred in the same game at old Yankee Stadium?

MLB Trade Rumors | Nick Deeds: After a 16-year career in The Show, Tyler Clippard has opted for retirement. The Yankees drafted the right-handed reliever in the ninth round of the 2003 draft and he eventually debuted with the club prior to being dealt to Washington in an ill-advised trade for the forgotten Jonathan Albaladejo. Clippard returned to the Bronx at the Trade Deadline in 2016, remaining for almost a year before the club sent him to the South Side of Chicago in the pivotal deal that brought Tommy Kahnle, Todd Frazier, and David Robertson to New York in 2017.

MLB.com | Jesse Sanchez: MLB has listed the top 50 international prospects for the 2024 signing period. This is a well the Yankees have gone to on numerous occasions, most notably to bring Jasson Domínguez into the fold a few years back. Shortstop Roderick Arias and outfielder Brando Mayea are more young guns down in the system whom the club brought in via international free agency. For the upcoming cycle, the Yankees are playing a bit short-handed. For signing Carlos Rodón this past off-season, the team forfeited $1,000,000 from its base signing pool. That leaves the Yanks with $4,625,000 to play with.

MLB PR: The presumptive American League and National League MVPs, and Aaron Judge. That’s some rarified air. It’s also the top three on MLB’s leaderboard for jersey sales in 2023. The stat is derived from the sale of Nike jerseys from MLB Shop. Judge is the only Yankee to make the list in 2023. You’d think Gerrit Cole could crack the top-20 next season but the No. 1 seller Ohtani is the only name on the list who pitches, and he’s his own special case. The Martian perhaps? It’ll be interesting to see if another pinstriped superstar can join Judge on the list next season.