YES Network Yankees announcers Paul O’Neill, David Cone, Ken Singleton, John Flaherty and Michael Kay sat down Wednesday with Post columnist Steve Serby for a roundtable chat about the baby Bombers and their outlook for the 2017 season.

Q: What can Gary Sanchez do for an encore?

Flaherty: I’ll admit it, I was a little concerned with all the attention he got this offseason for a young kid. I just saw him down there for a week, he looked like he’s ready to go. The throwing’s as good as I’ve ever seen anybody — I mean, Pudge Rodriguez obviously in my time — Gary’s in that next conversation. He closes up so quickly and so strong that the flight is true right through the bag. Every throw is right on the money.

Q: Is 40 home runs realistic for him?

Flaherty: No. It can happen one year, I don’t think it’s gonna happen this year because now he’s gonna be one of the focal points of the lineup. But 40-home-run power is in there eventually when he gets deeper in his career.

Cone: I don’t think anything’s unrealistic. If he gets a little protection in that lineup, then that will free him up to swing for the fences or get better pitches to hit. I think everybody thinks the same thing: “Boy, I hope he doesn’t put too much pressure on himself.” But the thing that to me is the equalizer is his defense — he’s got a gun for an arm, calls a very good game, frames very well. He’s already got the confidence of the pitching staff, and even the veterans.

Kay: Look for him to be a great defensive catcher, shut down the running game. That doesn’t go into slumps. If he can have 30 home runs, 32 home runs, with 85, 90 runs batted in, fans should be elated. He’ll probably be an All-Star for 10 years if he puts up those kind of numbers.

Q: Aaron Judge’s strikeouts?

Singleton: You live with it. If he’s gonna hit 25-plus home runs, I think the Yankees would live with 150 strikeouts. The hitter I’ve seen so far in spring training has been much better than I saw last year in September. He’s making more contact, he’s hitting the ball better to the opposite field. His swing is a little bit more under control. He fouls tough pitches off, which gives you a chance to hit another mistake if a pitcher makes it. Last year when he got to two strikes he was almost just about done.

O’Neill: I saw at-bats last year where he only gave himself like one swing in an at-bat. He was trying to be too perfect. And when you’re a power hitter, you gotta give yourself chances. He’s not a guy that should go up there trying to hit home runs because he’s so big and strong that he doesn’t need to.

Cone: There’s Aaron Judge power and there’s everybody else’s power. There’s nobody as gifted as him in the game today, maybe Giancarlo Stanton, just from a pure power standpoint.

Kay: If he can cut down the strikeouts, even to 200 in like 550 at-bats, I think he would hit 40 home runs.

Q: Greg Bird?

Kay: I know they got Chris Carter, and I know Chris Carter can hit 40 home runs, [but] Greg Bird, under no circumstances, should be platooned. He’s not neutralized against lefties. He’s a real good first baseman. I think he’s gonna hit a lot of home runs at Yankee Stadium. I think he could hit for decent average. This guy could be one of the stars. He’s the type of guy that could bat third.

O’Neill: You just hope he gets off to a good start, because after you miss a year of baseball, I don’t care who you are, there’s some doubts.

Singleton: He hits the ball well to the opposite field, but he’s got a nice Yankee Stadium stroke for a left-handed hitter. They want him to be able to pull the ball in Yankee Stadium, but get his hits and drive his runs in on the road.

Cone: He looks to me like his swing is tailor-made for Yankee Stadium. But he’s got power to the other way as well. When he came up two years ago, his strikeout rate was a little too high as well.

Q: Bird, Sanchez and Judge: Give me a home run total for each.

Kay: I think Sanchez will hit 34 home runs. I think Bird will hit 30. I would think Judge probably hits 20. I’m just not sure they’re gonna live with the strikeouts. If [Judge] doesn’t strike out, he’s gonna hit 40.

Q: Is there enough left-handed power?

O’Neill: This new Yankee Stadium to me is just as suited for good right-handed hitters to right-center.

Q: Carter?

Cone: He’s one of the strongest human beings I’ve ever met, I shook his hand and he just about broke my hand (chuckles). Yeah, he strikes out a lot. There’s a few yeah-buts in there, but … the Yankees aren’t gonna lose any bench-clearing brawls this year (laughs). Don’t challenge the Yankees!

Q: Michael Pineda?

Cone: He’s the classic case of somebody with good control and not good command. He needs to take the next step, especially when he does get ahead in the count, or gets two outs in an inning.

Flaherty: He’s a huge question mark.

Singleton: It’s a big year for him. He’s a free agent at the end of the year, so you know you’re gonna get his best effort. Not to say he didn’t give his best efforts before, but even more so in a walk year where there’s a lot of money on the line. He would get to two outs in an inning and invariably give up runs. It became almost as if you expected it to happen.

Kay: Pineda is one of the great puzzles in all of baseball.

Q: Luis Severino?

Flaherty: He could be a front-end-of-the-rotation guy eventually. He was so good out of the bullpen. He needs to talk to Andy Pettitte a little bit more, in my opinion, on how to slow the game down, how to realize you don’t have to overpower a lineup. You need to finesse a lineup maybe once through and you can overpower it maybe the third time through.

Q: Do you see him as a starter?

Flaherty: I don’t right now. You gotta see it during the season in stressful situations.

Cone: He’s so young, you can’t give up on him as a starter. He’s already proved he can be dominant reliever. His changeup this spring has already been better. I think he’s probably the front-runner for the fourth spot right now.

Kay: I thought he really made a very mature move during the offseason seeking out Pedro Martinez. I think he’s gonna get it this year. We know he’s filthy in the bullpen, but they don’t need him in the bullpen. This guy’s a No. 1 or 2 starter. I think he’s gonna have a great year.

Q: Aroldis Chapman?

Singleton: The best way to hit Chapman … is beat up on the other guys so he doesn’t get in the game.

Q: What advice would you have for Dellin Betances to get over his arbitration loss?

Cone: It’s gonna take time. He was not ready for what happens in those arbitration cases. I went to a couple of ’em [but won] with the Mets, and I know it was an eye-opener for me. You lose a little bit of your innocence (smiles). Get over it. Learn from it. Use it as motivation.

Q: How will Yankees fans receive this team?

O’Neill: I think a lot of fans actually talk about seeing younger players play, because in the old days when you came in where it was World Series-or-bust. I don’t think that you have that same feeling, but you do have a feeling because you’re part of the Yankees and you do have some big-name players on this team, that this team can compete and have a chance to win. I think [GM Brian] Cashman obviously sees the free-agent market at the end of this year, I think you see money coming off the books this year, and you also see some real young studs that can become great players here in the future.

Q: Fans will be patient if they see light at the end of the tunnel.

O’Neill: It’s not the first time Yankees fans saw a rebuilding process, but rebuilding here, you’re still expected to win.

Singleton: I think this team is gonna be better than it was last year. I think they’re gonna score more runs. I think you have younger players who don’t need the rest as much as some of the older players and are less likely to get injured, and if they do, they aren’t out as long.

O’Neill: Ellsbury, Gardner and Headley need to have good years to take the pressure off the younger players. If you get off to a tough start, in my mind, younger players panic much easier than older players, and that’s why it’s imperative that they get off to a good start where the young guys can just get a little momentum going.

Q: What advice would you give these baby Bombers about playing in New York?

Cone: Get yourself right off the field. Don’t let the distractions get to you. Get your living situation right. Don’t get overwhelmed with everything New York entails, all the attention, all the scrutiny, going out to dinner. … Find the right spot for you.

Get to the ballpark early during the day, grow, learn. But have a system that works for you. Learn how to embrace the city. Don’t be back on your heels worried about everything that comes your way. It’s OK to have some fun, within reason. Don’t be intimidated by it. That can carry over onto the field.

Q: Could this be a playoff team?

O’Neill: I think it’s a borderline. And if some guys step up, I think it could.

Cone: The thing that I keep getting back to is it’s a team that won 84 games last year and the first baseman [Mark Teixeira] and DH [Alex Rodriguez] were last in the league in production. They’ve got nowhere to go but up. If Bird is who we think he can be, and [Matt] Holliday is the hitter he’s always been in his career, that production has a chance to be well above average, and that could be the X-factor.

Singleton: I do think this is the best group of young players I’ve seen on the Yankees. And there’s quite a few of them.

Q: Best-case scenario, how many wins?

Singleton: 89. Worst-case, they finish under .500, but not much.

Cone: They could easily approach 90 wins.

Kay: 87, 88. If they’re in the middle of September and they’re battling for the second wild card, I would consider that a good season.