The A-Rod deal.

I look at this and say, do the Yankees remember what it was the won them all those World Series a few years ago? Was it guys like A-Rod or Sheffield? No, it was guys like Paul O'Neill and Chuck Knobluach. Superstars are being filled into every position, and once again you must ask, who decides to forego their sexy numbers for the good of the team? When I say sexy, I mean home runs and RBI. I'm going to make an attempt to fill out a Yankees lineup right now (Torre will be scratching his head as well)

1. Kenny Lofton, CF
2. Derek Jeter, SS

I believe the first two are solid. Now you have to wonder, with 3 guys who hit in the 3-hole, which one to make the 3rd batter.

3. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
4. Jason Giambi, 1B

I think Giambi is a lock for cleanup, which means Sheffield and Bernie Williams will have to hit in wildly unfamiliar positions.

5. Gary Sheffield, RF
6. Bernie Williams, DH

I pick Sheff for 5th because he is a righty to follow a lefty, whereas Bernie is a switch-hitter and you'll be facing more right-handed pitchers than left, so Bernie would be hitting lefty most of the time. So that leaves Jorge Posada, either Enrique Wilson or Miguel Cairo (or hell, maybe even former Yankee/Blue Jay/Marlin/Padre Homer Bush who showed potential at one time), and Hideki Matsui.

7. Hideki Matsui, LF
8. Jorge Posada, C
9. Wilson/Cairo, 2B

This is generally based on what order these guys batted last year. Matsui was a 5-hitter and Posada a 6. With two new crushers in the lineup, these guys naturally fall to 7 and 8.

I think when you do these types of things, like put Sheffield in the 5 hole and Bernie in the 6 hole, you sort of create an ego-rift. And now Matsui and Posada are in positions where they are considered among the worst hitters--I don't know how they'll respond to that. A-Rod, Giambi, and Sheffield are all going to believe he is the man that needs to drive in the runs. I see a lot of strikeouts in this 3-4-5 position. They combined for over 300 based on 2003 stats (although Sheffield struck out the least--only 55 times). If it were me, I'd put Sheffield in the 3 hole (better BA, less K's) and A-Rod at the 5, but that will never happen because of A-Rod's power numbers.

Kenny Lofton, of course, is not the leadoff hitter he used to be, but he'll be decent with Jeter behind him. It's all a matter of who can swallow their pride after A-Rod or Giambi drills the 3-run HR. If Lofton and Jeter fail to reach, you're going to have 6 straight guys trying to hit big power numbers with no one on base.

You've got a lot of guys who can get hurt (Bernie Williams to start, then Sheffield).

Pitching is important, though, and their rotation, even if they get Maddux (who's the latest rumored Yankee) will be weak compared to Yankee staffs of the past. Mussina is the man, then you have Kevin Brown who is 39 and is starting to get hurt a lot, although I would never bet against him. Javier Vasquez has shown he's a good pitcher...in Montreal, and even then he's not exactly been Pedro Martinez (not many are, but you know what I mean). There are a lot of question marks here, and without longtime pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre I wonder how the pitching staff will respond and gel. Maybe that's not a big deal since all of them are fairly new to the Yankee system anyway. It's not as good as the Red Sox staff, and that's an equalizer in the AL East. And now that Baltimore has some firepower, that division is going to be rough.