NEW YORK -- The New York Yankees' alleged ace, Masahiro Tanaka, is terrible. There is no gray area, just like there is no movement on his pitches. Right now, he is one of the worst starters in baseball.

As they say, the numbers don’t lie, and after another stinker -- a five-run, three-home-run, five-inning, 5-4 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday -- Tanaka is 5-6 with a 6.55 ERA. To paraphrase former CBS New York sportscaster Warner Wolf, “If you had Masahiro Tanaka possibly blowing the Yankees’ season … you won!”

This possibility is why it is time for the Yankees to make a decision on Tanaka. If the definition of crazy is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, the Yankees are approaching that level of madness.

The Yankees have lost seven of the 12 games Tanaka has pitched, and he can’t keep the ball in the park. In 2015, he allowed a career-high 25 homers in 24 starts. He has allowed 17 in 12 starts so far this season.

Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka allowed more home runs (three) than he recorded strikeouts (two) in five innings Tuesday. Adam Hunger/USA TODAY Sports

He is fooling no one, and the Yankees are fooling themselves if they don’t act. Yankees manager Joe Girardi did not say that the team will try something new, but, importantly, he did not rule it out.

“This guy has been the ace of our staff the last three years,” Girardi said. “I don’t think you just forget how to pitch. For him, it has been inconsistent stuff that has really killed him. We have to find a way to get him back on track.”

It is time to give Tanaka a timeout and see what minor league sensation Chance Adams can do at the big league level. The Yankees need to either further investigate what is wrong with Tanaka or “find” something so they can temporarily remove Tanaka from the rotation. It is craziness, otherwise.

In reality, a frustrated Girardi repeated for maybe the thousandth time that Tanaka is not hurt. There are no signs, anyway, as the manager reiterated.

“There is no lack of velocity,” Girardi said. “His velocity is consistent. We have seen really good sliders. We have seen really good splits. There is nothing that tells us that he is hurt. He is not coming into the training room for extra treatment.”

If Tanaka's elbow and shoulder are indeed intact, it might be his mind that the Yankees need to worry about.

“Maybe I was pressing too hard, and that may have been the cause,” Tanaka said through a translator.

It is pretty unbelievable what is going on with Tanaka, especially compared to last season. In 2016, when Tanaka was a Cy Young candidate, the Yankees were 23-8 in his starts and 61-70 when anyone else had the ball. Tanaka’s ERA was 3.07 in his 31 starts, while the rest of the starters had a 4.82 ERA in 131 collective starts. Tanaka was the biggest reason the Yankees were an above-.500 team.

This season, the Yankees are the aforementioned 5-7 in Tanaka’s starts, and they are 27-16 when anyone else starts. Tanaka's ERA is 6.55, and the rest of the starters’ ERA is 3.60 in 43 starts.

The Yankees are one game in front of the Red Sox in the AL East. If they had received anything at all from Tanaka, they would likely be up three or four games. Tanaka could very well cost the Yankees the division.

It is very likely that the Yankees will add at least one quality starter, if they still need one, by the end of July, though it is hard to imagine them navigating their way to a division title without Tanaka giving them something. Right now, they would take anything, but they are receiving nothing.

Girardi continually points to the two good outings Tanaka has had -- the shutout in Boston at the end of April and the 13-strikeout performance against the Oakland A’s on May 26 -- as reasons to believe that he could get right his next time out.

But there are rockets flying all over the ballpark. Three of them went over the wall on Tuesday. It is time for a change.

The Yankees have to figure out how to fix Tanaka. Just marching him out there again in five days is not the answer. It is time for Tanaka to receive a timeout. The Yankees need to figure out the best way to do it.