Around the Empire: Yankees news - 11/5/18

CBS Sports | Mike Axisa: Axisa predicts that the Philadelphia Phillies will sign both Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. He also thinks the Yankees and Mets could make a rare trade this winter. He proposes sending Chad Green and Jonathan Loaisiga to Flushing in exchange for southpaw starter Steven Matz. What do you think about that possibility?

Speaking of Machado, Jon Heyman tweeted that the Yankees will look into him, but signing him “will depend on price.” This sounds an awful lot like last winter, when Brian Cashman was hamstrung by ownership’s mandate to get the team under the CBT threshold. Heyman also reports that the team is prioritizing starting pitching, with Patrick Corbin and J.A. Happ topping the list.

MLB Cut 4 | Jake Mintz: Mintz published a post on which celebrities should be recruited to try to talk certain free agents into signing with a particular club. He feels Reggie Jackson is the obvious choice to persuade Bryce Harper to don the pinstripes.

Steve Phillips, however, tweeted that the Yankees “will not be in on Harper.” They are focused on adding Machado and starting pitching.

New York Post | Dan Martin: Martin wrote a nice piece on how Patrick Corbin has risen to a prized Yankees target. It seemed Corbin actually loved basketball the most when he was in high school.

Newsday | Erik Boland: The annual GM meetings are upon us. Boland predicts that the Yankees won’t sign any big names during the meetings, but will be active this winter. He also reports that “Hal Steinbrenner repeatedly said he wouldn’t rule out exceeding the salary-cap threshold if he could be persuaded that doing so would be the difference in winning a title.”