Yankees bring in righty Bettis

TAMPA — The Yankees continue to look for back-of-the rotation and bullpen depth. They brought in veteran righthander Chad Bettis to camp Saturday on a minor league deal with an invite to major league spring training. The 30-year-old is coming off an unimpressive 2019, going 1-6 with a 6.08 ERA in 39 appearances, including three starts.

Bettis, however, did not make an appearance after August when he had bilateral hip surgery. The Yankees are hoping for a bounce-back season from Bettis, who is 31-31 with a 5.12 ERA over parts of seven seasons in the big leagues, all with the Rockies. While his record and career ERA isn’t overly impressive, his 60.8% ground-ball rate last season is something that could play well in Yankee Stadium.

With James Paxton out until at least May after back surgery and Domingo German suspended 63 games to start the season under the domestic violence policy, the Yankees are looking to stockpile pitching depth. Bettis has been a starter most of his career, but is also seen as a potential long-man out of the bullpen here.

EVER-GREEN ROLE

Chad Green had to adapt to a fresh, new mound last season as the Yankees’ frequent opener. Aaron Boone, however, would like to see him go back to a more traditional reliever role this season. That would mean that the Yankees’ starters have remained healthy.

“I would hope so, just based on who we have available. Hopefully it means we’ve stayed largely healthy in our rotation,” Boone said. “We also feel like there’s given days where that can really work to our advantage. It’s a role that he thrived in last year. As need comes up we’ll use that, but hopefully we’re talking about a scenario where we’ve largely stayed healthy in our rotation. And now we can plug Green into a lot more different roles out of the pen.”

After struggling to start the season and being sent to Triple-A to work on his delivery, Green finished with a 4.17 ERA, striking out 98 over 69 innings pitched. He’s a trusted high-leverage reliever that Boone feels comfortable using at the start of the game or later.

“With Green, he brings a lot to the table because he can be a