| The latest clue in the Carlos Rodon mystery didn't take long to unfold during his second spring training start.
His first pitch of the afternoon veered toward the strike zone — belt-high for the Rays' Yandy Diaz — at 93 mph; it departed at 102.4 mph. The four-seam fastball traveled 396 feet over the right-center field fence as Rodon placed his glove on his right hip and Aaron Judge chased it from center field until he couldn't chase it anymore.
The four homers Rodon surrendered in a live batting practice session Friday, when he joked that it makes those Yankees hitters "feel good about themselves," maybe weren't a fluke after all.
But 16 pitches later, Rodon exited the inning without allowing another baserunner. The next three innings blended together some good and some bad until his 60th and final pitch, when Rodon surrendered a two-run homer on another four-seamer. He left two batters into the fourth inning.
"Fastball wasn't exactly where I wanted it to be," Rodon told YES Network after his outing ended, "but that's a part of these spring training games."
Rodon's fastball averaged 93.2 mph and maxed out at 94.8 mph Wednesday, The Post's Greg Joyce reported, noticeably a couple of ticks down from live BPs earlier this spring and his 95.3 mph average last season.
 Carlos Rodon's three-plus innings of work against the Rays on Wednesday weren't exactly inspiring.
AP
Rodon's 2023 season, limited by injuries, ended without a clear answer of whether the Yankees could trust him for the next five years, even if past results suggested that they could.
Two spring starts don't amount to much. But at this point, they're the only concrete evidence beyond the glowing words and assurances uttered by Rodon and manager Aaron Boone. And they haven't alleviated worries about the Yankees' looming Rodon dilemma.
Still, for all of the headaches and occasionally positive — and mostly disappointing — results, Rodon will enter 2024 as a critical piece of the Yankees' pitching staff.
If his $27 million price tag for this year didn't hint at that enough, the outlook for Boone's rotation certainly suggests that. The Yankees don't have a choice. They're committed to riding out the upside and downside that accompanies a Rodon outing and a Rodon season.
The Yankees have nothing but question marks behind ace and reigning Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole. Will Clarke Schmidt hold up after nearly tripling his previous career high for major league innings in 2023? Can Marcus Stroman replicate his All-Star-caliber first half — and not his shoddy, injury-plagued second half — from last year? What version of Nestor Cortes will settle into the rotation after he alternated All-Star and injury-filled journeys the past two campaigns?
And then there's Rodon. It always comes back to Rodon.
One year ago, Rodon's first spring with the Yankees ended with just one outing in which he allowed five runs and six hits. Days later, the team shut him down due to a forearm strain. Then, a back issue emerged as an April setback. Rodon didn't make a regular-season start until July 7.
 When he wasn't navigating multiple injuries last season, Rodon struggled on the mound, pitching to a 6.85 ERA in 14 appearances.
Corey Sipkin for the NY Post
That didn't mark a return to normalcy or stop everything from spiraling, though. His third start ended with a kiss mocking Yankees fans at Angel Stadium. His sixth ended with an early exit and was followed by a return to the injured list because of a hamstring strain.
But if everything unfolds smoothly, he has a chance to essentially write off the first year. He could make 30 starts again (as he did in 2022), earn an All-Star nod again (2021 and '22), become a better-than-serviceable No. 2 option behind Cole in the rotation and that — maybe — would be enough to transform a tumultuous debut season into an afterthought. Winning fixes everything in The Bronx.
There's never a shortage of baseball optimism this time of year. Spring training — from reporting dates to when the Grapefruit and Cactus League finales — is a six-week window filled with countless mulligans. Rodon's four homers in the live batting practice were brushed aside as nothing, and his answers following Wednesday's outing included positive comments about developing his cutter, mixing in other pitches and working around that ineffective, home run-inducing fastball.
 Carlos Rodon joked that the four homers he gave up in a recent batting practice least gave the Yankees hitters a chance to "feel good" about their progress.
Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
By making a second spring start, Rodon has already shown more consistency than he did last year. Everything that follows will revolve around the 162-game marathon. That's when the throwaways of spring training aren't as disposable.
That's when it gets interesting for Rodon.
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Rangers hit their deadline There had been plenty of buzz surrounding the Rangers and the trade deadline.
It was their last chance to add to the roster before embarking on a postseason run, and the Blueshirts needed reinforcements after losing center Filip Chytil (suspected concussion) to a season-ending injury and winger Blake Wheeler (lower body) for at least the rest of the regular season.
The Rangers took the first step toward plugging those roster gaps Wednesday by acquiring center Alex Wennberg from the Kraken — taking on half of what remains from his $4.5 million salary — in exchange for a second-round pick in 2024 and a conditional fourth-rounder in 2025.
The Blueshirts still have until Friday at 3 p.m. ET to add another player, likely a winger for either their first or third line, via trade.
Wennberg, 29, has served a key role since joining the Kraken in the expansion draft, including registering nine goals and 25 points in 60 games this season. He doesn't bring upside to the power play — a unit that has produced mixed results for the Rangers recently — and wouldn't replace Mika Zibanejad or Vincent Trocheck on the top two lines unless there were an injury, but the Rangers have needed a third-line center.
 The addition of Alex Wennberg should bring some much-needed consistency to the Rangers' third line heading into the playoffs.
NHLI via Getty Images
Jonny Brodzinski helped provide a spark to that line, even earning a two-year extension last month, but he's also played on the wing and could fill a different role for the Blueshirts.
Navigating those roster and lineup decisions is a good problem for head coach Peter Laviolette. It means the Rangers, again, have emerged as a legitimate Stanley Cup contender ahead of the postseason with the potential to secure one of the top seeds in the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference across the final 20 games.
Last season, they managed to acquire Patrick Kane from the Blackhawks and Vladimir Tarasenko from the Blues. That only led to a first-round exit, a coaching search and the need to execute a similar deadline approach one year later.
This time, though, the Rangers have an increased need to make this postseason push work. Their core isn't getting any younger. They can't keep parting with assets, either. Finishing the regular season with 100 points and being aggressive at the trade deadline doesn't mean much if it doesn't eventually yield a parade in June.
The McKinney dilemma If Xavier McKinney's first taste of free agency ends with him joining another team, it absolutely will hurt the Giants.
 The Giants' offseason to-do list will get longer if safety Xavier McKinney signs elsewhere in free agency.
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They had the chance to use the transition tag on the 24-year-old safety, and they didn't. The Post's Paul Schwartz reported there's still a chance McKinney returns to the Giants next season — and perhaps beyond — with a new deal, but for now, at least, Joe Schoen's latest decision created the possibility where that's not the case.
Players such as McKinney, who played every defensive snap in 2023, aren't easy to replace. There's a reason his value skyrocketed since he joined the Giants as a second-round pick in 2020. Sure, he's never made a Pro Bowl and been selected for an All-Pro honor, but that didn't hide the importance of his role under defensive coordinators Patrick Graham — after McKinney became a starter in 2021 — and Wink Martindale.
McKinney had emerged as a constant, and that would be the case again next season under new coordinator Shane Bowen.
McKinney's exit could make the Giants' safety outlook an ongoing puzzle ahead of next season. When Julian Love departed for the Seahawks last offseason, Jason Pinnock stepped into the starting spot next to McKinney. Dane Belton, a 23-year-old, also has flashed potential, including his three-takeaway game against the Rams when Pinnock exited due to a foot injury. Both of those players are under contract for 2024.
So maybe there's a way for the Giants to turn McKinney's potential exit into a scenario where they could add another piece to their offense. Perhaps an offensive lineman. A running back to replace Saquon Barkley. Maybe even a few extra million dollars to help bring Barkley back, trying to surround Daniel Jones — in what's becoming a pivotal year for the quarterback, especially if the Giants draft a signal-caller at No. 6 — with as much talent as possible.
 Dane Belton offered a glimpse of what he may be able to provide the Giants' defense with a three-takeaway effort against the Rams late last season.
Corey Sipkin for the NY Post
In the short term, the Giants might lose a talented defender. There's a reason McKinney thinks he should get paid as one of the league's top safeties, and the numbers suggest he's not wrong.
But if Schoen plays his next move properly and succeeds, it might help avoid any lingering disappointment.
Indiana's jones The Caitlin Clark Show will arrive in Minneapolis this week for the women's Big Ten conference tournament. Iowa's first game is Friday. Then it'll shift to NCAA Tournament locations and maybe — in the Hawkeyes' ideal scenario — Cleveland for the Final Four.
But in Indiana, the Fever already are preparing for Clark's following to arrive once they select her with the No. 1 overall pick in next month's WNBA draft. They're not exactly hiding their intentions, either.
The Fever congratulated Clark with a post on X after she broke Pete Maravich's all-time scoring record. Their ticket prices more than doubled — from an average price of $60 to $140 — after Clark declared for the draft, according to Vivid Seats. And she recently inked an NIL deal with Gainbridge, which owns the naming rights to the building where the Fever play, though the Indianapolis Star reported the negotiations started before the Fever won the draft lottery and Clark announced her intentions to go pro.
 Caitlin Clark won't have much time to prepare for the start of the WNBA season if she guides Iowa back to the NCAA title game this year.
AP
Everything has lined up for the Fever to take Clark. It's not like the NFL, where the Bears are operating in secrecy as they weigh whether to take quarterback Caleb Williams at No. 1 overall or stick with Justin Fields. It's not like MLB, either, where most top prospects don't see the majors for several years.
Instead, this is more like when the Spurs found out they could select Victor Wembanyama. Or when the Pelicans, in 2019, won — because of their dozens of losses — the right to take Zion Williamson. The only difference revolves around calendars: The NCAA women's basketball title game will occur April 5 and the Fever open their regular season May 14. In the NBA, there's a four-month gap between the draft and the opener.
But with Clark, who has produced sellout after sellout for games both in Iowa and on the road, the Fever won't have to worry about her influence fading.
They know exactly what they're getting, and they haven't hesitated to help add to Clark's aura, either.
What we're reading 👀 ⚾ Steve Swindal Jr., the 35-year-old grandson of George Steinbrenner and nephew of Hal Steinbrenner, is moving up the Yankees hierarchy and is seen as a potential successor to take over the team one day. The Post's Joel Sherman sat down with Swindal for a rare, exclusive interview to discuss his career path and ambitions for the franchise.
⚽ A deranged night for the USWNT as they advanced to the W Gold Cup final with a win over rival Canada: The field was basically a puddle, turning the most basic passes and dribbles into adventures; they conceded a game-tying penalty on the last ball of extra time; in the penalty-kick shootout, American goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher made three heroic saves and converted her own attempt.
⚾ The Post's Mike Vaccaro on rookie Mets manager Carlos Mendoza: "Getting the right man for the job supersedes getting the most famous man for the job."
🏀 Miles McBride has shouldered a heavy minutes load in Jalen Brunson's absence — more than 92 in two games — and he's holding up so far.
🏀 The Nets' season comes down to this: a stretch of 10 of 11 games on the road, where they have struggled.
⚾ Breaking down the crowded battle for the final spots in the Mets' Opening Day bullpen.
🏒 It's Kyle Palmieri's moment for the Islanders.
🏈 The Bills had a bloodbath.
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