Steinbrenner, Piniella make baseball Hall of Fame ballot

Late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, former managers Lou Piniella, Davey Johnson and Charlie Manuel and six players headed by Lee Smith are on the 10man ballot for the baseball Hall of Fame’s Today’s Game Era committee to consider next month.

Harold Baines, Albert Belle, Will Clark, Orel Hershiser and Joe Carter also are on the ballot for the 16-man committee, which meets Dec. 9 at the winter meetings in Las Vegas. The committee considers candidates from 1998 to the present, and a candidate needs at least 75% of the vote to be elected.

Any candidate picked will be inducted July 21 along with any players elected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America in a vote announced Jan. 22. Mariano Rivera and the late Roy Halladay join a ballot with top returnees Edgar Martinez and Mike Mussina.

When the Today’s Game Era committee last met two years ago, former baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and Atlanta Braves executive John Schuerholz were elected. Piniella received seven votes, while Baines, Belle, Clark, Hershiser, Johnson and Steinbrenner each received fewer than five. Mark McGwire also received fewer than five and was dropped from this year’s ballot.

The Hall has four committees. Modern Baseball (1970-’87) meets in December 2019 and Golden Days (1950’69) and Early Baseball (before 1950) in December 2020.

Yankees want Sabathia, Happ back: Brian Cashman wants to bring CC Sabathia back for an 11th season with the New York Yankees, and he’s also holding out some hope of re-signing J.A. Happ.

Eight days after the Boston Red Sox won their fourth World Series title in 15 seasons – compared to one in that span for New York – Cashman arrived at the annual general managers’ meetings searching for pitching.

“The Red Sox winning doesn’t change the hunger level of trying to deliver a championship sooner than later for our fan base,” the Yankees GM said. “I think the hunger and the effort, the passion’s there, despite the horrible outcome that took place in the World Series this year.”

Sabathia took a cut in salary from $25 million in 2017 to $10 million this year and went 9-7 with a 3.65 ERA in 29 starts – missing a $500,000 bonus by two innings when he was ejected in his last regular-season start for hitting Tampa Bay’s Jesus Sucre after Rays pitcher Andrew Kittredge threw upand-in to Austin Romine.

Sabathia had surgery on his right knee last month.

Happ, 36, was 7-0 with a 2.69 ERA in 11 starts after the Yankees acquired him from Toronto, but he lost at Boston in the Division Series opener.

Mets fire two coaches: The New York Mets fired hitting coach Pat Roessler and bullpen coach Ricky Bones.

After meeting last week with manager Mickey Callaway, new general manager Brodie Van Wagenen said that bench coach Gary DiSarcina will replace third-base coach Glenn Sherlock, who will shift to first-base coach.

Former Philadelphia Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr., who had been first-base coach, will become a front office adviser.

Japanese pitcher to test market: The Seibu Lions have agreed to post pitcher Yusei Kikuchi, clearing the way for the 27-year-old left-hander to negotiate with teams in Major League Baseball.

Since Kikuchi cannot file for international free agency until 2020, he needed Seibu’s approval in order to use the posting system to move to the majors.

Kikuchi has a 73-46 career record with a 2.77 ERA in Nippon Professional Baseball. He went 14-4 this year and struck out 153 batters in 1632⁄3 innings.

All postings by NPB teams must occur between Nov. 1 and Dec. 5, with a 30-day negotiating window to follow.

Under the posting system, a Japanese team posting a player to the majors will receive a fee based on an agreed percentage of the value of the contract, bonuses and incentives.