Around the Empire: Yankees news - 12/9/18

NY Daily News | Mark Fischer: The Manny Machado sweepstakes is starting to heat up, and Brian Cashman is said to be “keeping an eye on” the market. According to Ken Rosenthal, more teams are in the mix than just the Yankees, Phillies, and White Sox. It’ll be interesting to see if anything happens on this front at the Winter Meetings.

New York Post | Kevin Kernan: George Steinbrenner is up for election into the Hall of Fame once again. He hasn’t made it in two previous attempts. The Yankees obviously achieved a lot under The Boss, but he was a controversial figure and there are his suspensions to consider. Voting will take place tonight and be announced on MLB Network. If he doesn’t make it in, he won’t be back on the ballot until 2021.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Now for something that will make baseball feel a little bit closer: The Bombers released their 2019 spring training schedule. Pitchers and catchers report on February 13th, with the rest of the squad showing up February 18th. They’ll kick off their first game against the Red Sox on February 23rd, and spring training play will wrap up on March 25th against the Nationals. Opening Day is March 28th versus the Orioles in Yankee Stadium. Yay, baseball.