Around the Empire: Yankees news - 1/29/18

FanRag Sports | Jonathan Bernhardt: We’ve talked exhaustively about how the Yankees would like to and should get rid of Jacoby Ellsbury this offseason. There’s also been some talk about the Orioles having interest in Ellsbury, if the Yankees were to eat more than half his contract. The big question, though, is whether the Orioles (or any team) should actually be interested in Ellsbury. Depends on what you expect out of him.

ESPN | Buster Olney: The Yankees have one of the biggest lineup questions in baseball and it revolves around their big baseball boys. Where will Aaron Boone put Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton in the lineup? The thought of them hitting back-to-back might be enticing, but they’ve both had difficulties against righties with good sliders which could giving opposing managers an advantage. It might make sense to put a lefty like Greg Bird or Didi Gregorius between them.

NJ.com | Brendan Kuty: Just incase you needed reasons to get excited for spring training, here are 11 of them. From seeing how new manager Aaron Boone will handle in-game duties to drooling over Judge and Stanton dingers to the second and third base opportunities, there’s plenty to see in spring training and we can’t wait. Most importantly: baseball! We’re almost there, people. Almost.

MLB.com:

Finally, per MLB Network, Gary Sanchez is currently ranked as the second-best catcher in baseball. Only Buster Posey is considered better than him, but ya know, let’s start Austin Romine in playoff games.