A stray transaction in early December rarely moves the needle in the Bronx, but every so often it hints at the kind of work the New York Yankees believe can change the shape of a season. You notice it in the small bets, the quiet adds, the pitchers who arrive without headlines but with something else: raw material that intrigues the people in charge. This week offered two of those reminders.

A Subtle but Telling Week for the Yankees

The Yankees haven’t been the team scooping up marquee free agents or dangling prospects for splashy trades. Not yet, anyway. But they’re clearly scanning the board, curious enough to keep turning over stones in search of arms they think they can transform. That much was obvious when they dipped into the Rule 5 Draft for the first time in 14 years, grabbing ri

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