Yankees add suspense to Wild Card starter question with Luis Severino move

Yankees manager Aaron Boone announced a curious move before a game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park on Saturday.

BOSTON — With two meaningless games left in the regular season, the Yankees still don’t have an answer to their most meaningful question.

Manager Aaron Boone said the Yankees still hadn’t decided who will start Wednesday’s win-or-go-home American League Wild Card Game against the Oakland A’s at Yankee Stadium.

He added that the club will have its most substantial discussions following Saturday’s game with the Red Sox.

“We’ll get into that pretty heavily (Saturday night), we’ll get together and talk about that,” he said. “The last couple days (we) have started to have those conversations casually. But after (Friday) night’s game, with a little more intent behind it. But we’ll meet … and get closer to that decision.”

And Boone added some intrigue, scratching starting pitcher Luis Severino from his scheduled start Sunday.

Projecting Yankees’ Wild Card roster, 2.0

He added that “there’s a chance” Severino could pitch out of the bullpen, but Boone will talk it over with the right-hander and pitching coach Larry Rothschild.

Asked if that could mean Severino might be a bullpen option — and not the starter — on Wednesday, Boone deflected. Severino hasn’t pitched since Tuesday.

Based on how the rotation sets up, J.A. Happ is lined up to start against Oakland. Happ pitched six innings in Friday’s 11-6 win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park. That would put him on normal rest heading into the playoff game.

He’s been the Yankees’ best pitcher since they acquired him just before the All-Star break in a trade with the Blue Jays. Happ is 7-0 with a 2.69 ERA in 11 starts. He also pitched well against the A’s, giving up just a run over six innings in Oakland on Sept. 4.

On Friday, Happ said he would “love” to start the Wild Card and that he’s preparing as if he’ll get the nod.

The Yankees are also likely considering starting Masahiro Tanaka, who has had a good second half and hasn’t faced the A’s this season. In September, Tanaka has a 2.79 ERA in five starts. He gave up three earned runs in a loss to the Rays in his final start of the season.]

In his past two starts, however, Tanaka gave up three first-inning runs to Tampa, and four runs in the first three innings to the Red Sox. Holes like that could be disastrous in a playoff game.

Could the Yankees announce the starter on Sunday?

“Possible,” Boone said. “I think … we’ll come out of there [Saturday night] with a pretty strong idea which way we’re leaning. I would say it’s possible [they announce on Sunday]. Hopefully, we have a pretty good idea in place by the end of the day [Saturday].”

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.