Around the Empire: Yankees news - 12/18/17

NESN | Joshua Schrock: You know what’s fun to type? Giancarlo Stanton is a Yankee! That really doesn’t get old, although if Winter Meetings rumors are to be believed, it’ll only be true for a year. Supposedly, a rumor floating around the baseball world is that the Yankees will trade Stanton to the Dodgers next year so they can pursue Bryce Harper. Normally, I’d brush this off as crazy, but this offseason has taught me not to brush anything off.

New York Post | Dan Martin: One of the biggest reasons for the Yankees moving on from Joe Girardi was his supposed inability to connect with the team’s younger players. Specifically, Gary Sanchez. For what it’s worth, Sanchez said he never had a problem with Girardi and he appreciated that Girardi was just trying to help him and make him better.

NJ.com | Brendan Kuty: When the Yankees sent Chase Headley back to the Padres in a salary-clearing move, they opened up a hole at third base. While there’s still plenty of time for the Yankees to fill the gap, here’s a look at their four internal options (Gleyber Torres, Ronald Torreyes, Miguel Andujar, and Tyler Wade) to take over the hot corner and why each of them could and could not fit.

Baseball America Twitter: Okay not really a news link, but it’s fun to look at the Yankees farm system in 2012 and compare it to today’s and just smile about how different it looks.

Once again, it really is impressive what Brian Cashman has been able to do in such a short amount of time. As always, fire Cashman though.