CHICAGO – Is it make or break tonight for Jose Contreras? Not quite, but the Yankees want to see their $32 million investment show more confidence and aggressiveness against the Red Sox than he did last Sunday, when he almost spit out a 7-1 lead in the third inning and needed to be replaced.

Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre is convinced the adjustments he made with the struggling pitcher in a bullpen session Wednesday will pay off.

“I am pretty confident, I feel very good about him,” said Stottlemyre, who did not go into detail about what was changed or corrected.

Stottlemyre did admit that the Yankees believed the Red Sox have known what pitch Contreras (0-1, 9.39 ERA) was throwing.

“We suspect it,” Joe Torre said. “We are not rock-iron sure, but when they take pitches that are close and hitting good pitches, something is suspicious.”

In three games against the Red Sox (two last year), Contreras is 0-2 with a 20.27 ERA. A scout who watched him get spanked at Fenway says hitters are seeing too much of the ball as it comes out of Contreras’ large hand. Others have noticed his confidence is shot. The amateur psychologists suggest his family stuck in Cuba is bothering him.

While Contreras admits he misses his wife and children and that they are upset that he isn’t pitching well, he says the mound is a sanctuary.

“On the mound, that’s the furthest thing from my mind,” said Contreras, who has given up 12 hits and five walks in 7 2/3 innings. “I use it as something to help me. Right now my wife and dad aren’t happy when they see the results.”

* Torre hates to do it but he will sit Jorge Posada tonight against the Red Sox in order to get his hot-hitting catcher rest after playing seven straight games. He went 2-for-4 last night and was 9-for-22 (.414) on the road trip. Torre rested Bernie Williams on Wednesday night and Jason Giambi last night against White Sox lefty Scott Schoeneweis . . . Jorge De Paula had Tommy John surgery on his right elbow yesterday. He’s expected to miss 8-10 months.