What’s the 2018 Yankees’ best roster?

It has become a surprisingly pressing issue for this club, with a surprising consequence on Saturday.

And in the unlikely chance that good health continues, it could come to define these Yankees and to determine their ultimate fate.

In order for Greg Bird to make his season debut on Saturday against the Angels at Yankee Stadium the first baseman having healed sufficiently from right ankle surgery, the Yankees optioned beloved utility man Ronald Torreyes to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, creating what Aaron Boone called a “rough” mood in the team’s clubhouse late Friday night.

“Hopefully it is something that is temporary, because of what Toe means to our team, now and even going forward this season,” Boone said.

Honestly, the surprise comes partly from that Torreyes had been on the major-league team since he joined the Yankees since 2016 and the issue of whether he had options remaining wasn’t discussed publicly.

Nevertheless, this still is not the move The Post would’ve made. I would’ve tried going with 12 pitchers or, short of that, optioned Tyler Austin to Scranton. Bird has actually hit lefties (.846 OPS entering Saturday) better than righties (.777 OPS) during his injury-plagued career, so it wouldn’t make sense to platoon Bird and Austin at first base. Boone did not commit to such a plan, instead envisioning a lineup against southpaws in which both Bird and Austin (who tallied a .931 OPS in his first 50 plate appearances versus lefties this year) start.

Maybe you ease Bird back into the lineup, letting Austin spot him twice a week, until Bird gets firmer footing, at which point you summon Torreyes to replace Austin?

While Boone sounded open to dialing back to 12 pitchers once the Yankees get through this stretch of 14 games in 13 days that ends June 7, his boss Brian Cashman sounded more inclined to keep carrying more pitchers than hitters. If that holds, the identities of the 12 position players will be a regular source of conversation … as long as everyone stays healthy.

“The roster crunch is the roster crunch,” Cashman told reporters, including The Post’s Dan Martin, on Saturday, and it’s a problem for which every general manager yearns.

The people’s choice to get the axe, new guy Neil Walker, does not have minor-league options, and going into Saturday night’s game, he had put together a .326/.442/.558 slash line in his past 52 plate appearances. Even if he has become less relevant in the wake of Gleyber Torres’ explosion, Walker is not a player to jettison, and he’ll get more opportunities as long as Torreyes is in Scranton.

It’s the emergence of the rookie Torres, in fact, that would have further pushed me to retain Torreyes over Austin. Torres’ right-handed oomph — he had a .958 OPS against southpaws before Saturday — mitigates the need for Austin’s bat. And the demotion of Torreyes makes Torres the Yankees’ number two shortstop. Granted, Torres is a natural shortstop and versatility has become more important and more prevalent in this current game. Nevertheless, do you want to disrupt anything that Torres is doing right now?

Cashman pointed out that Austin will have more opportunities to start than would Torreyes, particularly with the Astros set to start lefty Dallas Keuchel during the defending champions’ visit to The Bronx this coming week. That’s sensible. Then again, a lineup facing Keuchel with an outfield of Aaron Judge, Aaron Hicks and Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez DHing and Austin Romine catching — with Torreyes available off the bench — would be nothing at which to sneeze, either.

For now, this constitutes a low-risk maneuver. What the Yankees will have to decide, as they battle the Red Sox for the American League East title, is how they’re best constituted. One win could make the difference between hosting an AL Division Series and hosting a do-or-die wild-card game.

You can’t have too much of a good thing, right? The Yankees might just be in a position to find out.