FELIX WHO? The Yankees may have coveted Felix Hernandez, but pitching coach Larry Rothschild says he’s confident in the aging and rehabbed arms of (from left) Hiroki Kuroda, CC Sabathia, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte. (Anthony J. Causi (2), Neil Miller, Bill Kostroun)
TAMPA — The Yankees have an ace who is coming off elbow surgery and their next two starters will be 38 and 40 by Opening Day. Also, their closer is 43.
And with Felix Hernandez agreeing to a seven-year, $175 million extension with the Mariners, the notion of bringing the right to The Bronx looks to be a thing of the past.
But pitching coach Larry Rothschild doesn’t share most of the rest of baseball’s belief that his staff is too rickety to hold up the entire season.
“Usually, guys that have been through the innings, they know what to do and they tend to hold up, to a certain point,” Rothschild said of CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera.
“You get to that point where the age comes into play, where they can’t hold up, but I think these guys have all proven they have that ability,” Rothschild said. “It’s harder, I think, for a young guy to get to that 200-inning plateau than it is for a veteran to maintain that.”
He’ll certainly have an opportunity to test that theory this season.
“It’s obviously nice to have those guys,” Rothschild said. “We just have to make sure they stay healthy. That will be the biggest thing. It’s not necessarily the best pitching staff, but the one that stays the healthiest that does what you need to get done. There’s no guarantees.”
Especially with Sabathia coming off elbow surgery and Pettitte having failed to reach that 200-inning plateau each of his last three seasons.
Just as important is Rivera, who has remained confident throughout the offseason he will be fully healed from last May’s torn ACL in time for the season.
But before Rothschild figures out how he’s going to use Rivera in the regular season, he wants to make sure the closer makes it there.
“First, we’ve gotta get through spring training and see where things are,” Rothschild said.
If that goes as planned, Rothschild doesn’t anticipate Rivera being any different than before the injury.
“I don’t know if it’s gonna be any different than it was the year before,” the pitching coach said. “He knows himself, when he needs a day and when he doesn’t. I think you have to trust that with a guy that has had his career and knows himself the way he does.”
If he comes back in similar form to what the Yankees are accustomed to, age may not affect him the same way it has others.
“He’s a guy that when he pitches an inning, a lot of times it’s 9, 10, 11, 12 pitches, so he’s not throwing 25 pitches generally,” Rothschild said. “If that starts happening, then obviously we’d have concerns about what we’d have to do.”
As for the more youthful members of the staff, Rothschild appeared to give an edge to Ivan Nova over David Phelps for the final rotation spot behind Phil Hughes.
“You look at Nova and he’s had a lot of wins the past two years,” Rothschild said. “So my job going into spring training is to get him back to where he should be and pitching the way he’s capable of.”
He wasn’t ready to write off Nova’s entire 2012 season and agreed with Nova’s assessment that he too often tried to force pitches that weren’t working for him.
“He had a bad two months, really,” Rothschild said. “He went through what young pitchers go through. It’s how you come out of it that’s more important than going through it.”
➤ Rothschild added Michael Pineda’s recovery from shoulder surgery continues to progress and he’s expected to throw off a full mound for the first time next week. The organization’s top pitching prospect, Manny Banuelos, just started playing catch in his rehab from Tommy John surgery and is not expected to pitch at all this season.
dan.martin
@nypost.com