LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Since late July, the Yankees have obtained a starting outfield — Alfonso Soriano, Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran.

That turned Vernon Wells, Brett Gardner and Ichiro Suzuki into reserves. And it turned Tyler Austin, Slade Heathcott and Mason Williams into trade bait. But probably not overly attractive trade bait.

A year ago the Yankees had hoped the trio could form a future outfield and/or help them land significant pieces in deals. But like all the catching prospects the Yankees not long ago bragged about or the Killer B pitchers, the outfielders took a U-turn away from promising prospects to something lesser.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all it would take is for one interested team to value them well,” said an AL executive. “But we don’t have any of them as top-100 prospects and I think that is generally the industry view.”

I asked executives from six teams and that was the repeated perception — none of those outfielders are projected as top players.

An AL personnel man who was asked if the Yankees have prospects, said, “Impact?” Me: “Yes.” Him: “No.”

What does that mean now? Well, for example, the Yankees like the very available Cubs starter Jeff Samardzija. Chicago, in particular, is looking for pitching prospects. But when speaking of the entire Yankees farm, one member of the Cubs organization said, “The Yankees have no upper-level talent.”

This bodes poorly for the Yanks. There is fragility with Ellsbury, Beltran and Soriano based on past history and/or age. They would like to have some high-end youngsters better than Zoilo Almonte percolating below. Mainly, though, the Yankees are pushing up on Hal Steinbrenner’s offseason budget.

Thus, they need low-cost options for holes at second, the rotation, late-inning relief and further left-side-of-the-infield insurance. And the trade market is a place to find that. Therefore, the need to have chips. Gardner has allure in the market — the Giants, for example, are intrigued, though feel the chances of a deal are not great. Gardner’s value is hurt because he is just a year from free agency plus some influential Yankees decision-makers are resistant to dealing him.

This is why the three outfielders would be so vital. A year ago the Yankees were so high on Heathcott coming off a strong Arizona Fall League they were pushing the notion he could reach the majors in 2013 — the same possibly for Austin. But injury and tepid performance hit both last year while Williams continued to be a talented athlete who had questions about his baseball acumen and motor.

The Yankees still feel all three outfielders are young with a chance to be regulars in the majors or better. Are there other teams that feel the same? It is now key to the Yankees offseason.

The Yanks actually feel their system is better than advertised and there is some industry belief that four pitchers who worked at Double-A last year and were not protected on the 40-man roster — Tommy Kahnle, Danny Burawa, and lefties Fred Lewis and Matt Tracy — might be options for selection in Thursday’s Rule 5 draft.

Kahnle (2.85 ERA, 11.1 strikeouts per nine in ’13) was among the most asked-for Yankees in July trade talks. Lewis, according to scouts who were in the Arizona Fall League, was throwing in the mid-90s and could entice teams looking to gamble on a southpaw reliever.

Orioles interested in Mets’ Murphy

The Orioles are among the teams looking hard at Daniel Murphy, though the Mets were not positive they would move the second baseman. Baltimore also had interest in Ike Davis, perhaps to DH some since Chris Davis is the first baseman. The Brewers and the Rays remain the most likely landing spot for Ike Davis.

The Mets are interested in free-agent Mitchell Boggs as a buy-low option with upside. The righty was a top set-up man in 2012 (2.21 ERA), but collapsed last year with the Cardinals, who had hoped he might graduate to be a closer. He finished last season with Colorado.

With Roy Halladay retiring, we now know that five years from now the following players will be added to the Hall of Fame ballot: Halladay, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Todd Helton and Chris Carpenter.

Phillies GM Ruben Amaro said, “I have two corner outfielders” when asked if his club was in pursuit of free agent Nelson Cruz. But one of them, Domonic Brown, is available as Philly hopes to add a starting pitcher. Multiple executives, though, said Brown’s defense is bad enough that he might not get a top-end return. Also, the sense is that Cruz wants to return to the Rangers.

The Padres are extremely doubtful they will trade Chase Headley this offseason. The third baseman followed a near MVP-season in 2012 with a poor 2013 and San Diego does not want to trade the switch-hitter when his value is down. The Padres would rather wait, see if they are contending in July and, if not, deal Headley then before he leaves as a free agent.

For starters, little will be for free

Multiple executives said they were surprised how little noise they were hearing about the top free-agent starters — Matt Garza, Ubaldo Jimenez and Ervin Santana. The asking price for each is believed to be north of $60 million and, perhaps, well beyond that. As I reported at the general managers’ meetings, Santana’s starting price, for example, was $112 million.

One official said at those costs teams are remembering that from the middle of 2010 until late May last season, Jimenez was one of the majors’ worst pitchers before waking up again. The Angels were so down on Santana they were not going to pick up his 2013 option and have him go to free agency until the Royals accepted a trade for the righty. And Garza has battled injury the past few years and was bad down the stretch last season once traded.

This is why teams are exhausting other options.

It now looks as if a new posting system could be finalized this week and then teams will see if the Rakuten Golden Eagles post Masahiro Tanaka.

Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers and another executive said the Rays have yet to push David Price onto the market. Tampa Bay’s way is to wait, let teams get frustrated for not getting their first or second choices and than capitalize. The D’backs, Rangers, Dodgers and Mariners are expected to be factors.

The price on Jeff Samardzija was described by multiple executives as steep enough the perception is the Cubs are shooting high and if they don’t get it, they will re-market the righty in July.

There was a lot of buzz at the meetings about the White Sox potentially making Chris Sale available. But an executive pushing hard for pitching said, “We have asked millions of times about Sale and never felt they would trade him.”

The A’s have made Brett Anderson very available. He was a top starter in 2009, but has made just 43 starts since (often pitching well). One executive described him as “A Plan B, not Play A guy. He has a lot of risk, but also a lot of upside.”