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TAMPA — The sky was overcast. The stands at George M. Steinbrenner Field were empty. The general inactivity was such that you could hear cars zooming past on Dale Mabry Boulevard not far beyond the right-field fence.
The only two players on the field — Michael Pineda and Cesar Cabral — were playing catch about 100 feet past the first base bag. As spring training goes, there was nothing all that uncommon about two rehabbing pitchers tossing a ball back and forth.
Except this:
Six men specifically charged with handling pitching in the Yankees organization were watching this game of catch — and it wasn’t to get a better feel for Cesar Cabral.
In words, the Yankees do everything possible to downplay expectations around Pineda as he recovers from shoulder surgery. They refuse to offer a timetable or place even a dollop of importance on his return. But forget the words. There was major league pitching coach Larry Rothschild, three pitching coordinators and two minor league pitching coaches eye-balling a game of catch at 8:30 in the morning, two hours before a full practice was to begin.
Deeds, not words, screamed about Michael Pineda’s importance to this organization.
PHOTOS: YANKEES SPRING TRAINING
Look, at this moment everything that transpires with the Yankees is viewed through the $189 million prism. And, no doubt, a major reason Pineda was obtained just more than a year ago from Seattle was to add some high-end, low-pay cost certainty in the rotation moving forward.
But let’s cast the attempts to get below the luxury-tax threshold in 2014 aside, let’s act as if the Yankees were willing to have an unlimited budget moving forward. You know what? Even in that scenario, Pineda’s significance to the franchise remains just as profound this year and beyond.
Let’s take this season, first. The Yankees are comfortable with their first four starters — CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Andy Pettitte and Phil Hughes. But there is fragility there. Sabathia had offseason elbow surgery. Pettitte and Kuroda project to be the first- and fourth- oldest starters in the majors. What are the chances that trio gets through this season unscathed?
So you look at the depth. Ivan Nova faltered so badly last season that he will have to win his way into this rotation. David Phelps and Adam Warren stand as the next options with the hope that, say, Brett Marshall can jump into consideration during the season. The Yankees are trying to find a veteran to stash at Triple-A, which is why they will have two scouts watching Taiwan and current free agent Chien-Ming Wang during the World Baseball Classic.
But if Pineda really can return in June — which is the hope — and pitch anything like the guy who made the All-Star team in 2011 then, as Joe Girardi said, “it could be a really nice boost for us.”
However, one member of the organization said he would be fine if Pineda returned and pitched to a 5.00 ERA as long as he finished the season healthy and throwing 91-95 mph. And this is where the beyond — the future — comes in.
Felix Hernandez’s seven-year, $175 million Mariners extension was just the latest reminder that the Yankees cannot expect to find too many solutions outside of their organization. Clayton Kershaw and Justin Verlander cannot be free agents until after the 2014 season and their current teams are going to do everything possible to sign them. The Rays almost certainly will trade David Price after this season, but no one should anticipate that being within the division to the Yankees.
Besides, the landscape has changed and the Yankees can no longer expect to win any bidding war they want. There are at least a half-dozen clubs now that will go dollar-for-dollar with the Yanks or prospect-for-prospect should trades arise.
So if not Pineda, who and from where and how and at what cost can the Yankees find a top-of-the rotation starter? Again this isn’t about staying under $189 million, this is about staying championship contenders.
Which is why so many eyeballs were on Pineda and, for now, the signs are positive. He reported at his prescribed 260 pounds rather than 20 pounds overweight, as he did last year. He no longer is dragging through workouts, but powering through them and asking for more.
He gets up on a full mound today for the second time since his surgery, still throwing just fastballs, but progressing well. But as opposed to the course back from elbow surgeries, shoulder rehabs are trickier, and setbacks are too familiar.
“If he is healthy, I know what we have, and that is one of the better young, emerging starters in the game,” GM Brian Cashman said.
The Yankees need nothing more. Which is why so many are watching, watching, watching; hoping for the best.
joel.sherman@nypost.com