so touching: Yankees sacrificed seven pitchers including……..

Aaron Boone: Yankees performed ‘very decent job’ Replenishing rotation depth

In exchange for Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo, the Yankees sacrificed seven pitchers, including six potential starters.

Michael King, who could have been the No. 2 pick, is gone, as are marginal starters Randy Vásquez and Jhony Brito.

There are major injury risks in their rotation, particularly with Carlos Rodón and Nestor Cortes, and maybe the most pressing issue for the 2024 Yankees is the reinforcements.

Aaron Boone, for his part, stated that the Yankees have done “a pretty good job” of replacing lost depth and praised “hopefully our next wave of Vásquezes and Britos.”

“Whether that’s [Will] Warren, [Chase] Hampton, [Clayton] Beeter, or Luis Gil returning from injury this year,” the Yankees manager stated on “The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman” podcast on Wednesday. “We’re very happy about Cody Poteet’s signing; we believe there is a lot of potential depth there. And, of course, Luke Weaver will return to serve as the sixth starter/long man, depending on the situation.

Only Weaver has made significant major league appearances among the six players identified by Boone.

The 30-year-old righty has bounced about for eight seasons and has a lifetime 5.14 ERA. Weaver, a former first-round choice, was acquired off waivers by the Yankees in September and was solid in three starts, which helped lead to a one-year contract with $2 million guaranteed and much more available in bonuses.

Poteet was also signed to a major league contract.

Now 29, the right-hander appeared in 19 games (nine starts) for the Marlins in 2021-22 before needing Tommy John surgery.

He returned for one minor league game in September 2023.

Gil, a 25-year-old righty, provided tremendous depth when he made his Yankees debut in 2021 but had Tommy John surgery in May 2022.

He played in two minor league games last September.

Warren, Beeter, and Hampton are untested prospects, but MLB Pipeline ranks them among the organization’s top 14 prospects.

Beeter, who had a 3.62 ERA in 27 games between Double-A Somerset and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last season, is likely to get the first chance among the three because he is already on the 40-man roster.

Warren, on the other hand, is coming off the finest season of the group (3.35 ERA in Double- and Triple-A with 149 strikeouts in 129 innings), while Hampton, the top prospect, is a step back after maxing out at Somerset last year.

Jose Trevino has been hitting with live velocity for “probably about a month now,” according to Boone, after the catcher had season-ending wrist surgery in July.

“He’s ready to go,” Boone explained. “He’s in a good spot.”

Boone also commended Austin Wells, who has been in Tampa for much of the offseason, and Ben Rortvedt, calling both catchers “big leaguers,” though having three catchers on the major league roster would be unusual.

“We’ll see how it shakes out,” Boone added.

Infielder Jeter Downs, who was named after Derek Jeter, and outfielder Oscar González will stay Yankees.

Both cleared waivers and were outrighted to Triple A.

The Twins grabbed outfielder Bubba Thompson off waivers.