Around the Empire: Yankees news - 10/1/24

Baseball America : In what is likely the first of many awards headed his way, Aaron Judge was named the Baseball America Major League Player of the Year. As part of their announcement, BA highlighted No. 99's insane 218 wRC+, 300th career home run, third career season with 50+ home runs, and the fact that he is the tallest player to ever play center field full time by a full two inches. This is his second time receiving this commendation, which he also won in 2022.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch : Once Anthony Rizzo was removed this weekend with a pair of broken fingers after being hit by a pitch, everyone began to speculate as to how the Yankees were going to approach first base during the postseason. When that happened, Ben Rice, who had been part of the "break glass in case of emergency" group staying ready at the minor league complex in Tampa, got the call to return to the Bronx — and while a spot on the ALDS roster is far from a guarantee (although looking more and more likely by the day), the youngster is staying ready in case the team needs him.

MLB.com | Anthony Castrovince : As a teacher, I'm generally against bullying, but there are certain moments where it's acceptable — the MLB All-Star jerseys, for instance. Ever since the 2019 season, All-Stars have no longer worn their own team jerseys during the game, and instead have donned monstrosities designed by Nike, a move unpopular with everybody except Rob Manfred and the Nike board of trustees. Well, players and fans have bullied Nike and Fanatics enough with bad press that the league has announced a return to the traditional All-Star jerseys, as we all grew up loving.

Additionally, although it will take until 2026 for all the changes to come into effect, the league is undoing a lot of the changes made with the jerseys this past year: the letters on the back of jerseys will be larger once more, patches will be again embroidered not pressed, and in general, this year's disaster will largely be a temporary blip in the history of major league jerseys. Even better than the jerseys, however, is that this is a reminder that major league owners can be bullied: so let's continue to bully Hal to ensure he re-signs Juan Soto.