Welcome, Yankees, to the type of conundrums that face losing teams.

Gone are the annual luxurious problems of manipulating the final weeks of the regular season to align the starting rotation properly for Game 1 of a playoff series and evaluating whether carrying an extra relief pitcher, a third catcher or a utility infielder provides the most roster flexibility in the postseason.

In their place, consider this depressing debate: Should the Yankees soon shut down Gerrit Cole?

Though there has been no public discussion of the possibility to date, if there is a finite number of throws in every pitcher’s arm before it blows out — isn’t that the real reason for soft-capped pitch counts and innings limits? — then why should Cole throw a single pitch in September?

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