Boone high on Rodón, rotation: 'You love the way it looks'

NEW YORK -- Assuming the Yankees' deals with outfielder Aaron Judge and starting pitcher Carlos Rodón get officially announced, manager Aaron Boone is thrilled at how his roster is shaping up for 2023.

A day after New York reportedly agreed to a six-year, $162 million contract with Rodón, Boone spoke about the star left-hander at the Yankees' Winter Wonderland event at Yankee Stadium on Friday.

"Nothing official yet, of course," Boone said of Rodón. "But, hopefully, we can get it to the finish line. And, obviously, we're talking about a really, really talented guy that's really started putting it together here these last couple of years. Hopefully, he can have a big impact on us."

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Boone added: "I think he's become one of the game's really great pitchers, and he's shown the last couple of years he's a top-of-the-rotation guy. Hopefully, he continues to realize that potential.

“I think over the last couple of years, he's probably learned a lot about himself and his mechanics. I know he's made some mechanical changes that have really unlocked him and unleashed him and turned him into the pitcher we've seen the last couple of years."

Rodón, who turned 30 last week, followed up a breakout, 185-strikeout season for the White Sox in 2021 with a career-high 237 K's for the Giants in ’22. Rodón sets up the Yankees to have one of the strongest rotations in baseball as he joins ace Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes, Luis Severino and Frankie Montas.

"You love the way it looks," Boone said of the rotation. "It's got a chance to be really special – a lot of talented pitchers. But we're here in December. We've got to go out and do it."

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Boone said the Yankees have been trying to get Rodón for the past few years, saying the pitcher has "been on our board a lot."

Boone said he didn't personally talk to Rodón much during the Yankees' recruitment of the free-agent lefty, but he did speak to Rodón briefly on Thursday.

The Yankees' deal with Rodón came just over a week after they were reported to be bringing back their superstar Judge on a record-setting nine-year, $360 million free-agent contract during the Winter Meetings in San Diego.

"Hopefully, we can finish that off this week," Boone said.

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The manager has texted with Judge since the reigning AL MVP and the Yankees agreed to the deal, and Boone hopes to see Judge in person next week.

Boone was woken up at the Winter Meetings to the news that Judge was returning -- a big relief after what he called a "nervous" and "uncomfortable, somber, not-sure" day before, when Judge was reported to be headed to the Giants, which turned out to be a false alarm for the Yankees.

"That morning flipped the script on me a little bit," Boone said.