TORONTO — Roger Clemens is ready to return to the Yankees’ rotation and likely will start at the Chicago White Sox next Monday.

Clemens pitched six shutout innings for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Monday. Yankees manager Joe Torre said before yesterday ‘s game against Toronto that he’ll stay with Chien-Ming Wang, Mike Mussina, and Andy Pettitte as his starters for this weekend’s series at AL East-leading Boston.

“I’m not disappointed that he’s not pitching at Fenway,” Torre said. “I don’t think that series needs any more hype than it gets every time we play it, whether it’s in Fenway or at the Stadium. You’d obviously be tempted if you had a kid pitching and you can replace him with Roger Clemens. When you have Wang, Moose, and Andy, there’s really not the temptation to do that.”

Torre wasn’t ready to finalize his decision.

“Until I talk to him personally, it’s tough to pick a particular day,” he said.

If Clemens is put on the major league roster Monday, he would receive $18,207,665 this season, a prorated share of his $28,000,022 salary.

The 44-year-old right-hander struck out six and gave up two hits and two walks in Monday’s start, showing improved command from last week’s outing at Double-A Trenton.

“He’s going to be 45 but he plays like a 20-year-old with that enthusiasm,” Torre said. “It’s going to be a big lift. He’s going to help us but he’s not going to carry us.”

Torre said the difficult season has shown him a new side of his team.

“The one thing about it, it humanizes these guys,” Torre said. ” When they perform the way they’re supposed to, they look machinelike at times. They’re showing you they can press like everybody else.”

Torre said the recent struggles are unlike any he’s seen since becoming New York’s manager in 1996.

“A couple of years ago we got off to a bad start and you had to poke them a little bit just to bite and scratch and stuff,” he said.