BOSTON — Maybe this Red Sox-Yankees rivalry has dialed down in recent years, with both teams rarely contending at the same time. They last reached the playoffs together in 2009.

This season looks no different, but it’s not the Red Sox in last place in the AL East this time. The Yankees are in trouble.

They can’t hit and the pitching is spotty. The Yankees show a solid bullpen (0.98 WHIP) but only one reliable starter (Masashiro Tanaka).

Tanaka pitched a gem Friday while Boston started Henry Owens, who figures to be about No. 7 on the Sox depth chart for starters. Owens and the bullpen held New York to two runs, the 16th time in 21 games the Yankees had three or fewer runs.

Pacifists’ row?

Time to panic?

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“Now is not the time,” Yankees Manager Joe Girardi said. “I really believe we’re going to bust out of this.”

Maybe so. It’s obviously early, but heading into Saturday night’s game at Fenway, the Yankees were 8-13.

New York has been bogged down with big contracts, starting with Alex Rodriguez’s 10-year, $275 million extension after the 2007 season. After 2008, New York spent $422.5 million on a group that had Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia, leading to the 2009 World Series title.

Add $490 million before the 2014 season – a group that included Tanaka and Jacoby Ellsbury – and it appears New York isn’t cashing in as well as it hoped. Tanaka is effective but there’s too much dead weight elsewhere.

Think of it as Pablo Sandoval’s salary, squared.

With Teixeira and Carlos Beltran coming off the books after this season, and Sabathia and Rodriguez gone after 2017, the Yankees will have salary room. Of course there’s still Ellsbury to be paid (his $153 million deal up after the 2020 season). Ellsbury is batting .247 with a .649 OPS, causing some New York media members to declare his contract one of the Yankees’ worst ever.

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Bad contracts (re: Sandoval) don’t have to be a problem if you are developing players. Boston benched Sandoval for Travis Shaw, a ninth-round draft pick in 2011. So while Boston is paying Sandoval $17 million, that waste is softened by Shaw’s near-minimum $515,000 salary.

Boston has its share of botched acquisitions but the farm system keeps replenishing.

Shaw, Owens, Xander Bogaerts, Dustin Pedroia, Jackie Bradley Jr., Mookie Betts, Christian Vazquez, Clay Buchholz, Junichi Tazawa and Matt Barnes were all drafted or signed as international free agents. (You could stretch that and include Hanley Ramirez, who came back to Boston, his first organization).

Add others who will be in Boston again soon – Blake Swihart among them. It’s why Boston routinely is ranked as one of the top farm systems.

The Yankees, meanwhile, have developed players but with not as much depth. Their starting lineup includes one homegrown player (Brett Gardner). New York has one homegrown starter, Luis Severino, and three in the bullpen (Dellin Betances, Nick Goody and Ivan Nova).

New York’s farm system is ranked 17th or 18th, depending on who you ask. The Yankees have talent that will soon help in the big leagues – first baseman Greg Bird (currently hurt), catcher Gary Sanchez and outfielder Aaron Judge. But there’s not enough to revitalize a roster.

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The average age of the Yankees’ starting lineup is 33. Boston’s is 28.

New York is in last place, a spot the Red Sox know well in recent years. But these Yankees are also old and unlike Boston, their farm system isn’t going to help much.

BOSTON’S PITCHING depth could be better but there’s hope with three injured players working their way back – including reliever Carson Smith, who pitched in Portland on Friday and Saturday, and is expected to be in the Red Sox bullpen this week – lightening the load of setup men Koji Uehara and Tazawa.

Starter Eduardo Rodriguez is scheduled to make a second start Tuesday for Pawtucket. If that goes well, he could be with Boston the following week, presumably in Owens’ spot.

Joe Kelly, out with a sore right shoulder, threw his first bullpen Friday. He’ll throw another bullpen Tuesday and then could start looking at rehab assignments. Kelly will need several outings in the minors.

“We have to build him to 80-plus pitches,” Boston Manager John Farrell said, “before we tax the bullpen.”

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BLAKE SWIHART is learning how to play left field while in Pawtucket. The plan is for him to primarily catch and then play left field two times a week. The adjustment will take a while.

“He’s used to the game coming to him,” Farrell said. “Now he’s reacting to batted balls. It’s a work in progress.”

Swihart is working with Billy McMillon, the former Sea Dogs manager who now is Boston’s roving outfield instructor.

MATT SPRING, a former Sea Dogs catcher, is a coach in the Angels’ organization, with the Burlington (Iowa) Bees of the Midwest League.

Spring, 31, spent five seasons in the Red Sox system, including four in Portland.


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