TAMPA, Fla. -- Jameson Taillon propped his 6-foot-5 frame onto a trainer’s table in the Rogers Centre visiting clubhouse last September, stabilizing his tattered right ankle with mummifying loops of athletic tape. He could hardly field his position, knew surgery was inevitable, yet felt a responsibility to keep pitching.

That was how Taillon’s first year in Yankees pinstripes ended, with gritty performances in Games 157 and 162, then submitting to the knife after his club’s postseason drive ended in nine forgettable innings at Fenway Park. Year 2 began on Monday, with the right-hander hurling two scoreless frames in the Yankees' 5-2 Grapefruit League victory over the Phillies at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

“It feels a lot different,” Taillon said. “It’s still rehabbing; it’s still an injury that I have to take seriously. But mechanically, I feel like I’m where I need to be. I feel much more fluid with my arm. My arm feels great.”

When Taillon underwent surgery to repair a torn right ankle tendon in October, the club conservatively estimated that he might return to the rotation in late April or early May; being ready for the season’s first week seemed to be a long shot. But the calendar shifted, with Opening Day delayed until April 7 due to the lockout, and Taillon’s offseason preparation allowed him to take advantage.

“It was always meant to be a little fluid, because this is such a rare injury for pitchers,” Taillon said of the timeline. “I don’t think we had a set playbook like with Tommy John [surgery], where they know exactly what you’re doing on every given day and every given week.”

So here is the new game plan: the club envisions the 30-year-old Taillon sliding alongside Gerrit Cole, Luis Severino, Jordan Montgomery and Nestor Cortes, a starting five that still could be altered drastically. General manager Brian Cashman said he “wouldn’t say” if the club was advancing in trade talks, but the Yanks are pushing for the Athletics’ Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea.

“I’m excited about what we have,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I think pitching, overall, was a strength of ours last year. I thought our starters gave us a lot, thought our bullpen had a lot of people that became very reliable in high-leverage situations. We’ve got a long way to go, but I do feel like we have the makings of a really good staff.”

Taillon provided a reason for optimism with his sharp performance on Monday, spinning two innings before Cortes and Michael King also silenced the Phils’ hitters. Taillon navigated the first three outs economically, requiring 11 pitches to record a popout in foul territory (Matt Vierling), groundout (Jean Segura) and strikeout (Bryce Harper).

“He executed how he wanted to, located how he wanted to,” Boone said.

A J.T. Realmuto single opened the second against Taillon, who then worked from the stretch to notch a popout (Rhys Hoskins), flyout (Didi Gregorius) and groundout (Adam Haseley). Taillon is not all the way back -- he’d prefer not to perform a box jump or pound his foot on first base, for example -- but it’s enough to work with.

Having tossed only 30 pitches, Taillon ambled to the bullpen for more, building stamina to tackle more innings. Taillon was not necessarily displeased by his numbers from last season -- an 8-6 record and a 4.30 ERA over 29 starts, spanning 144 1/3 innings -- but he felt that there were too many games when he was staked to large leads, only to give back runs or exit early.

“To get wins, you have to pitch deep in games and give the lineup a chance to score while you’re in the game,” Taillon said. “I’m just looking forward to taking the ball every fifth day, staying healthy and pitching deeper into games. That’s definitely a goal.”