Around the Empire: Yankees News - 1/7/19

MLB.com: The Yankees’ recent acquisition of Zach Britton underscores their commitment to keeping their bullpen a strength in 2019. According to rumors the Yankees aren’t done shopping for relievers, as both SNY’s Andy Martino and MLB’s own Mark Feinsand have noted that they have been engaged in talks with Adam Ottavino. Having as many quality relievers as you can is never a bad strategy, I guess. If only the Yankees were as enthusiastic about addressing their infield needs... but I digress.

New York Post | Dan Martin: Troy Tulowitzki apparently attracted attention from many teams, but it seems like the inclusion of a full no-trade clause was what sealed the deal between him and the Yankees. Martin rightly notes that Tulowitzki needs to prove his worth for the clause to actually matter, but Brian Cashman and company seem to be impressed by what they’ve seen in Tulo’s workout. I’m hoping that the Yankees naming Tulowitzki their starting shortstop is a re-enactment of the Bubba Crosby saga from a while back, but I have to admit it would be pretty cool if Tulo actually made his comeback work in New York.

Yahoo Sports | Mark Townsend: Despite its rosters being pretty outdated by now, MVP Baseball 2005 still stands as one of, if not the best, baseball video games ever released. Last year, in a stroke of absolute genius, Reddit user checkitmyles took advantage of the game’s rosters to construct a lineup made up solely from current MLB managers, including Yankee skipper Aaron Boone. At the Winter Meetings, Yahoo Sports’ Mike Oz showed the lineup to some of its members. Spoiler alert: it’s not a very good lineup, and some managers had some choice words about the batting order. Even Boone himself had to admit that he should be batting higher!