Judge back in Triple Crown territory; Josh Breaux released by org after seven years; Torres responding well after short benching; Crochet reportedly rejects extension, adding to trade speculation.
NY Post | Greg Joyce: Aaron Judge capped off his latest month of dominance with another home run, pushing himself to 31 bombs for the year. After one of the coldest starts to a season Judge has had, he’s turned up the heat to an unreal degree — and he’s firmly back on the trajectory that his historic 2022 season was on. While that season saw him lead the league in homers and RBI, he fell just short of collecting the best batting average in the American League, and lo and behold he’s got another chance to chase the fabled Triple Crown. There hasn’t been one since Miguel Cabrera won it back in 2012, but Judge’s latest push is looking a lot more solid as each week goes on.
NJ.com | Max Goodman: The Yankees made a change to their minor league roster over the weekend, cutting their former second round pick in the 2018 draft, Josh Breaux, on Saturday. Breaux at one point was on the doorstep of the majors in 2022, making it to Triple-A Scranton and playing in 41 games at that level to close out the year. The team’s depth at catcher massively expanded in recent years, however, and Breaux’s development slowed down as he hit roadblocks at each new level of the minors. He hit a hard wall this year after playing in spring training, going on the Development List and hitting .128/.190/.282 in 12 games after getting activated. Breaux was signed to a minor-league deal by the Phillies yesterday, so best wishes to him picking things back up.
NY Post | Greg Joyce: Gleyber Torres has endured one of the toughest years of his career so far, and reached a bit of a mental breaking point after his latest slump leading to manager Aaron Boone letting him ride the bench for a few games. Torres took this seemingly well, as he’s come back from his mental reset sitting out two games and collected three straight multi-hit games, just one less than he had in the last two months combined. His season numbers likely won’t ever recover to a pretty line, but it’s not too late for him to pull out a redemption arc in his walk year.
MLB Trade Rumors | Mark Polishuk: This last bit isn’t exactly Yankees specific, but it is something to note. The Chicago White Sox reportedly tried to engage their breakout pitcher Garrett Crochet in extension talks that got shot down, leading to them leaning more towards including him in their inevitable fire sale at the trade deadline. The Yankees may not be the most aggressive team bidding for Crochet, but they’d certainly be interested in a controllable rising star for a rotation that has generally been a strength for the team but taken some bruises of late.
