MLB.com | Mark Feinsand: We get an early look at some of the top potential trade chips for July’s deadline. Sandy Alcantara and Luis Robert Jr. are at the top of many execs’ lists, and while Miami’s right-hander makes a lot of sense for a battered Yankee rotation, his slow start to the year raises a lot of eyebrows. The 2022 NL Cy Young Award winner’s ERA is over eight through the first month and a half, and has only reached the sixth inning twice so far this year. Maybe it’s a blip, but maybe it’s lingering effects from his Tommy John surgery, and the Yankees have enough injured All-Star pitchers right now.
New York Post | Greg Joyce: It’s now been two straight days that Giancarlo Stanton has taken live BP, a promising sign that the Yankee DH is on the right path in recovering from dual elbow injuries. He’s not eligible to come off the 60-day IL until May 27th, but barring any setbacks the club will have him back sooner than later.
MLB.com | Sam Dykstra, Jim Callis & Jonathan Mayo: If there’s one thing the Yankees do well, it’s turn prospects, former prospects, and nobodies into dynamite relievers. A trio of prospect evaluators here look at all 30 MiLB systems and gauge who best to bet on being their team’s next dominant closer, and if there was one team I’d believe in being able to do that, it’s the Bombers. Their pick for New York was righty Eric Reyzelman, a 2022 fifth-rounder out of LSU who fanned 40.9 percent of all batters he faced across 31 games last year between three levels. This year is his first exposure to Triple-A though, so those numbers aren’t quite there yet and he has to work on command … but the dangerous fastball/slider combo is there.
Reuters: Carlos Carrasco was designated for assignment earlier this week, and the veteran righty seems to have passed through waivers. As such, Carrasco was outrighted to the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, where presumably he will stay as rotation depth for the time being — though shortly after his DFA, manager Aaron Boone hinted that it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility for Carrasco to return sooner than some might guess.