Yankees claim former Braves Triple-A ace to be the new Cody Poteet

If you were worried that the New York Yankees were about to enter the season with a "crafty No. 7 starter" void after dealing Cody Poteet in the Cody Bellinger trade (that was weird), then worry no longer.

On Thursday afternoon, the Yankees added some pitching depth by claiming right-hander Allan Winans off waivers from the Atlanta Braves. Winans' MLB career has not gone as planned thus far, unless he planned to post a 15.26 ERA in a pair of starts last year. Below the surface, though, he's been a quality Triple-A arm, and that may be understating things.

Relying on guts and guile — which have been good enough to get him several MLB opportunities with the pitching-rich Braves, so not bad — Winans is coming off a 114 2/3 inning campaign with Triple-A Gwinnett, accompanied by a 3.30 ERA and 100 Ks. The year prior, he posted a 2.85 mark in 126 1/3 innings at the same level. When you consider this is all going down while he features a 90-91 MPH fastball, that's not bad. Clearly, the Yankees like having a pitcher like Poteet down in Scranton, and Winans will now officially join their shuttle.

MiLB central's Chase Ford was first with the scoop, which was swiftly confirmed by MLB Trade Rumors.

Yankees claim former Braves starter Allan Winans

Hopefully, we're not writing a familiar article next October about how the Yankees were disrespectful towards Winans by not giving him a chance to be a playoff longman.

The Yankees' 40-man roster is far from maxed out; Winans will be its 38th member when this claim becomes official. That means they have some wiggle room remaining for infield and bullpen additions, and will also surely place someone surprising on the 60-Day IL the moment spring training begins, thus creating another roster spot.

For now, Winans will likely survive any forthcoming roster cuts ahead of names like Yerry De Los Santos (did you know he was on there?), but he's firmly below JT Brubaker and the recently claimed Michael Arias on the pecking order. This time of the offseason ... it's truly the best.