YANKEES TO THE MAX?

Harper: If Bombers want to win now, they need Scherzer:

By now it’s clear the Yankees aren’t bluffing about an offseason devoted to financial restraint and bigpicture planning, as they passed on David Robertson at least partly to secure a draft pick and judged Brandon McCarthy as too expensive to even pursue.

There is logic to this philosophy if their priority is to build a better future by avoiding the bad contracts that currently have them stalemated all around the diamond.

But at this rate it’s awfully hard to see how the Yankees will avoid a third straight empty October.

Unless they eventually relent and go sign Max Scherzer, as so many baseball people expect, how in the world do they have enough pitching to overcome a spotty offense and be better than last year’s 84-win ballclub?

I don’t blame them for passing on McCarthy, whose injury history and inconsistency would seem to make him incapable of

commanding the four-year, $48 million deal he got from the Dodgers on Thursday.

Still, the Yankees take a hit by losing McCarthy, who revived his career in the Bronx last season, and his departure leaves them with a starting rotation full of question marks.

Could they get lucky, injury-wise, with Masahiro Tanaka and Michael Pineda, and have a formidable 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation? Sure they could, but would you bet on it?

Would you bet on Tanaka’s elbow to stay intact?

Would you bet on Pineda to have a season free of arm problems?

Beyond that, nobody knows if CC Sabathia can be a reliable starter anymore, never mind dominant, after dealing with arm and knee problems in recent years that have reduced his fastball velocity to ordinary.

Ivan Nova isn’t expected to be ready to start the season after needing Tommy John surgery last April, and unless something changes, the Yankees aren’t expecting Hiroki Kuroda back for another season as he nears age 40.

They just traded last year’s surprise rookie, Shane Greene, which leaves the likes of David Phelps, Chase Whitley, and perhaps Adam Warren, who was valuable as a reliever last year, as starting candidates. Even with a potentially dominant bullpen, that’s hardly a blueprint for championshipcaliber baseball.

And though they are building a better prospect base than in recent years, the Yankees don’t have the blue-chippers to make trades for difference-making pitchers.

Nor do they have a Yoenis Cespedes as a luxury they don’t really need to trade for a solid starter, as the Red Sox did to get Rick Porcello from the Tigers on Thursday.

Of course, if they did have Cespedes they’d be more likely to plug him in as cleanup hitter and inject some power potential into an offense that was so anemic last season.

Yes, the Yankees have issues. So it’s going to be fascinating to see what they do here.

Do they stick to their plan and rely on a better return on the half-billion or so they spent last winter in free agency? Do they refuse to spend big even as frustration begins to build among fans who watched so many other teams wheel and deal at this week’s Winter Meetings?

Most significantly, does Hal Steinbrenner have the discipline to say no when Randy Levine comes to him in another few weeks and makes the case that the Yankees need to make a big move to energize the high-rollers who buy the expensive seats at the Stadium — not to mention the rest of the ticket-buying or YES-watching fan base?

It was only a year ago that Steinbrenner essentially panicked after the Yankees missed the playoffs as empty seats were suddenly appearing in blocks at the Stadium. After planning for two years to get under the $189 million luxury tax, Steinbrenner blew up his plan in an effort to get back to the financial promised land of the playoffs.

Does he really hold firm this time? Does he take Scott Boras’ call when the game’s most notorious agent goes over Cashman’s head to make his case for Scherzer?

I get the feeling that Cashman is willing to roll the dice with Tanaka and Pineda, pick up a couple of bargain free-agent pitchers and hope that, like last year, they can get by in an I era when offense is disappearing in baseball. n doing so the Yankees would get to keep next year’s No. 1 draft pick, the 19th overall, as well as the pick between the first and second rounds they get for losing Robertson. That’s better for their long-term future than signing Scherzer to a seven year, $180 million deal. If they’re desperate to win next year, however, Scherzer looms as practically a must-sign.

In the end, the owner will make the call. Which will it be, Hal?

AP The Yankees were bystanders during the Winter Meetings, but if they hope to end two-year playoff drought, they may need to land free agent pitcher Max Scherzer, who would immediately become the team’s ace and bolster Bomber hopes.