SHOOTING FOR STARS

TAMPA — The Yankees’ roster is presumably far from a finished product, as there’s plenty of time between now and the July 31 trade deadline. But it’s pretty clear that — at least for the time being — the defending World Series champion Astros have the edge when it comes to comparing rotations.

Houston added Gerrit Cole to a group that already included Dallas Keuchel, Justin Verlander, Lance McCullers Jr. and Charlie Morton. The Astros also have depth in Collin McHugh behind them.

Remember, it was Verlander who tweeted “I can think of a reason” why the Bombers aren’t the team to beat in the AL — even after bringing in Giancarlo Stanton. Verlander can back that up too, having dominated the Yankees’ vaunted lineup twice in the ALCS.

And the Astros fortified their bullpen as well over the winter, adding Joe Smith and Hector Rondon, while hoping postseason hero Brad Peacock can fill the same multi-inning, high-leverage role Chad Green fills for the Bombers. Peacock could also be an option in the rotation should an injury occur — a star swingman of sorts.

With Houston, especially in the postseason, pitching versatility was key.

“At the end of the day, they’ve got 12-15 pretty talented pitchers,” Aaron Boone said, noting all the role reversal in the playoffs, with starters like McCullers, Morton and Peacock dominating in relief. “Obviously, they’re the champs, and a lot of it was on the strength of that.”

As for the Yankees, Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner have made no secret of their desire to add a starter. Cashman constantly wants to try to upgrade what he already has, while Steinbrenner always says you can never have enough pitching.

But despite runs at Shohei Ohtani, Cole and Yu Darvish during the offseason, the Yankees came up short, leaving them with the same rotation they had in 2017: Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, Sonny Gray, CC Sabathia and Jordan Montgomery.

Cashman recently confirmed what the Daily News reported: that the Bombers weren’t interested in a one-year deal with Alex Cobb (injury history, draft-pick compensation).

“It’s a good rotation, and if we stay healthy, it can be one of the best,” Sabathia said recently.

It is a solid group — after all, it helped the Bombers advance to the ALCS — but there are certainly plenty of questions there, given all the career-high innings the youngsters (Severino, Montgomery) threw, combined with the injury histories of the veterans (Tanaka, Gray, Sabathia).

Behind them, the Yankees are high on Domingo German, who has had a nice spring, but he’s never made an MLB start. And they still seem to believe in Luis Cessa, even though he struggled mightily when given a chance last season.

So any rotation injury or regression by any of the starters in the short-term could be significantly damaging.

On the prospect side, Justus Sheffield and Chance Adams both had ERAs over 11 in their brief appearance this spring, and it seems that both need more seasoning in the minors, while Domingo Acevedo and Albert Abreu (appendix surgery) have been brought along slowly.

Sheffield displayed plus stuff, but command proved to be an issue. Adams, who some scouts believe will end up as a reliever, did not have his usual velocity, suggesting his arm strength was still being built up, and made mistakes in the middle of the zone with his fastball.

At the lower levels, one scout told the Daily News during the offseason that 6-foot-8 righty Frecier Perez, who just turned 22 on Wednesday, may have the biggest upside of all the team’s minor-league pitching prospects, due to his smooth, repeatable mechanics and ability to hit triple-digits on the radar gun.

And the team is also high on 18-yearold Luis Medina and 2017 draft picks Matt Sauer (second round) and Trevor Stephan (third).

With an extremely deep prospect pool overall, the Yankees can be in the conversation for basically any impact starter that becomes available down the road, whether that be Michael Fulmer, Chris Archer, Marcus Stroman or someone else.

That could perhaps be the difference-maker they need to dethrone the Astros at the top of the AL standings.

Because right now, Houston, in its quest to repeat, has a leg up when it comes to the rotation.