"The Yankees' quiet offseason morphed into a blaze of activity Friday as the Bombers mortgaged perhaps their top young talent — slugger Jesus Montero — in a four-player trade to add a promising young starter and then agreed with veteran free-agent righthander Hiroki Kuroda on a one-year contract, too.

The Yankees are sending Montero, who thrived last year during a September call-up and would've been their primary designated hitter in 2012, and Hector Noesi to the Mariners for righty Michael Pineda, an All-Star last year, and Jose Campos, a right-handed pitching prospect, two baseball sources said. The trade won't be finalized until all the players involved pass physicals, the sources said.

Kuroda, meanwhile, agreed to a one-year deal worth $10 million, which is also pending a physical, one of the sources said. The Yankees had long been interested in him, but shied away from his price tag, which was $13 million-$14 million for one year at the beginning of the offseason. Kuroda will be 37 next month, but he was 13-16 with a 3.07 ERA (ninth in the National League) in 32 starts for the Dodgers last season, striking out 161 in 202 innings.

Managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner likely had to approve the expenditure for Kuroda — the Yanks are trying to make sure their payroll is below $189 million in two years — but the club had always planned to stretch its budget this winter if, as one team official put it recently, "the right one-year deal comes around. But it has to be the right deal." The Yankees obviously felt Kuroda was the right deal.

The flurry of moves completely remakes the Yankees' starting rotation, which has been cause for concern for the team all off-season. Now, with Kuroda and Pineda likely slotting in behind CC Sabathia with Ivan Nova the probable fourth starter, the rotation appears to be a strength, along with a talented bullpen. Plus, their two best prospects now that Montero is gone are pitchers Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances; adding Pineda helps them build a stockpile of young arms."