After watching their rotation get decimated by injuries last season, the Yankees have added just one notable starter this offseason.
That would be Marcus Stroman, whose own recent injury history has kept him from cracking 140 innings the last two seasons. However, pitching coach Matt Blake told the Daily News that the Yankees have some “interesting candidates” who can fill in for a rotation that also features Carlos Rodón and Nestor Cortes, former All-Stars who weren’t particularly effective on the rare occasions they were healthy last season.
Those candidates include — but are not limited to — right-handers Luke Weaver, Cody Morris and Cody Poteet. All three have major league experience as starters and relievers, potentially setting them up for roles as swingmen.
Blake said the group will likely build up as starters in spring training after the Yankees lost significant starting depth in trades, free agency and the Rule 5 Draft this winter. As camp goes on, the Yankees will see if any of the three make more sense as relievers, depending on the team’s health and roster needs. If any come out of the bullpen this season, Blake imagines they would be used for multi-inning appearances in the 50-60-pitch range. That would allow them to pop into the rotation as needed.
Weaver, 30, re-signed with the Yankees on an incentive-laden deal fit for a swingman. A former top prospect, he’s endured numerous arm injuries and little success throughout his career, posting a 5.14 ERA over 574.1 innings.
However, Weaver pitched well over a short audition with the Yankees last September, allowing five earned runs over 13.1 innings. At the time, Blake said the pitcher had been on his radar for a while.
“He’s a good athlete with a good delivery and a relative history of throwing strikes,” the coach recently said. “That’s a good place to start because those guys are generally pretty adaptable. Obviously, getting him in-house, you start to learn a little bit more about his capacity to learn things quickly, and he definitely took to some adjustments.
“Getting him back this year, I think there’s some untapped potential that hopefully we can lean into.”
Blake said that changes to Weaver’s cutter usage helped him at the end of last season. This spring, Blake would like to see him add more ride to his four-seam fastball, among other tweaks.
While Morris is new to the Yankees, Blake is no stranger. He helped oversee Morris’ development in Cleveland after the club used a seventh-round pick on the 27-year-old in 2018.
Morris came aboard in the trade that sent Estevan Florial to the Guardians.
Yankees fans might already be familiar with newly acquired RHP Cody Morris!
Here he is striking out Trevino, Gleyber, and Rizzo in Game 4 of the 2022 ALDS. pic.twitter.com/E0qwOsOco4
— Fireside Yankees (@FiresideYankees) December 26, 2023
Blake said that staying healthy will be one of Morris’ goals this spring and season. He’s also battled injuries and has never thrown more than 89 innings in a professional season.
Morris only worked as a reliever over six major league games last year. He made just four starts in 21 minor league appearances.
Armed with a mid-90s fastball and a plus changeup, Morris will also look to improve his curveball and a cutter-slider hybrid.
“When he’s right, he’s got a really good fastball-changeup mix,” Blake said. “Trying to put together pieces around it will be important to kind of determine what role he ends up in.”
Morris still has two minor league options.
Poteet, meanwhile, has three. The former Marlin inked a split deal after spending the vast majority of 2023 recovering from Tommy John surgery with the Royals.
SOURCE: The #Yankees have an agreement with RHP Cody Poteet on an MLB deal.
Poteet gets $750K in MLB, $200K in MiLB.
The 29 year old has a 4.45 ERA in 19 games, 9 starts with the Marlins. pic.twitter.com/zw71COUAzH
— Ari Alexander (@AriA1exander) January 4, 2024
A fourth-round pick in 2015, Poteet had no prior connection to Blake. However, the 29-year-old has trained at Eric Cressey’s facility for years.
Cressey is the Yankees’ director of player health and performance.
“We had homework on him and Eric knew him really well,” Blake explained. “We just had some exposure that way. Knowing his story, it helped us see where the upside is with him. He had been hurt the last couple of years. Maybe not a lot of opportunities, got back at the end of last year. Now he’s ready to hopefully take off again with good health.”
In addition to undergoing Tommy John surgery in August 2022, Poteet suffered a knee injury in 2021, the year he debuted. He’s thrown just 75.1 innings since the end of the 2019 campaign, as the pandemic cancelled the 2020 minor league season.
Prior to surgery, Poteet primarily relied on a strong changeup, a mid-90s fastball and a slider.
Cody Poteet features a plus plus changeup as you can see here. Looks like a repeatable delivery, change dives hard down and in to righties, down and away to lefties sitting 87-88. Heater up to 95. Slider has a nice little wrinkle to it. Solid project for Blake pic.twitter.com/FSkiExF5xT
— Jonny's Lasagna ⚾️ (@JLasagna43) January 4, 2024
Acquiring versatile pitchers like Weaver, Morris and Poteet feels intentional after injuries ravaged the Yanks’ rotation last year. However, Blake said the moves were probably a coincidence, the byproduct of having open 40-man roster space that allowed the team and players to take chances on each other.
“This was a unique situation this year where we maybe had more openings that more guys were willing to inquire about the spots,” Blake said.
The aforementioned trio won’t be the only pitchers pushing for opportunities, though. The briefly-tested Luis Gil and Yoendrys Gómez and top prospects Will Warren, Clayton Beeter and Chase Hampton could also compete for starts and/or relief roles this year.
