MLB Team by Team: 2008 New York Yankees

What to do if you're the New York Yankees? You've won 26 world championships, been to the World Series 39 times, you're the most successful team-sports franchise in North America, probably the world, and for the last seven years, you've been viewed, perhaps by the outside world, and definitely by your owner, as a failure since you haven't won the World Series, especially when your blood rival, the Boston Red Sox, have done so twice in that span.

And maybe the future is uncertain as well, now. There's a new Steinbrenner at the controls, a new Joe (Girardi) on the bench, your core players are getting up in years, and even Yankee Stadium itself is about to become a thing of the past after this year. And, to top it off, that new Steinbrenner? He's poking fun at Red Sox Nation. What's up with this season for the Bombers?

OFFENSE: A-

You can't read the history of baseball without seeing the names of offensive powerhouses with "NYY" next to their names. Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Maris, Jackson, Mattingly, Jeter, Rodriguez, just to name a few. Offense will never be a problem for the Bronx Bombers, that's why they have that name. When you can cycle any one of three people into the designated hitter role (Jason Giambi, Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon) and get no true dropoff from that, when you have the best offensive player in the game at third base in Alex Rodriguez, the captain of captains in Derek Jeter, and a down year for Bobby Abreu being .283, 16 homers and 101 RBI, offense is not a problem. The (best) problem to have is where to put everyone other than the two and three spots in the lineup.

PROJECTED LINEUP: 1 Damon LF/DH 2 Jeter SS 3 Rodriguez 3B 4 Matsui LF/DH 5 Abreu RF 6 Posada C 7 Giambi/Duncan DH/1B 8 Cano 2B 9 Cabrera CF

STARTING PITCHING: C

Now, however, we come to the rotation, which just might be the thinnest it's been in many a year. The top two spots don't look like they'll be a problem, with Chien-Ming Wang (19-7, 3.70 ERA) and Andy Pettite (15-9, 4.05) manning those. Three through five, however, hmm. Phillip Hughes gets his chance to show he was worth the Yankees dropping out of the Johan Santana race, Mike Mussina has to show last season was a aberration on an otherwise stellar career (11-10, 5.15 ERA), and Joba Chamberlain has to show he can be a starter and keep that temper in check. May be too many questions going into this season, only way to tell is on the field.

PROJECTED ROTATION: Wang, Pettite, Hughes, Mussina, Chamberlain

BULLPEN: C

Here's another spot where the cupboard is surprisingly bare. There's been three certainties in the Bronx for the past 10 seasons: death, taxes, and Mariano Rivera kicking butt. He's still there, larger than life and just as scary (30 out of 34 in saves last year, 443 career), but how to get to him? LaTroy Hawkins looks to be his set-up man, and he did decent for Colorado last year, but is that the Hawkins that will show up, and is decent enough in New York? Kyle Farnsworth has his moments, both of dominance and ineffectiveness. Brian Bruney is, well, he's on the team. Jose Veras has a total of 20 major league innings to his credit, Edwar Ramirez has given up six homers in his 21 innings of work. May be time for the rotation to load up on Wheaties.

CONCLUSION

The Yankees are still the Yankees. There's few sights more scary to the rest of the American League than the Pinstripers on a roll, and that has not, and probably will never change. However, the pitching, both starters and relievers, look to be a possibly weak link, still better than most, but not as good as the Red Sox. The Toronto Blue Jays have also improved, and provided injury doesn't take its toll, it's not hard to see them slide in behind Boston. For the first time in 15 years, the playoffs may, just may, go off without the Yankees being a part of them. No word on whether that's against the rules or not.

PREDICTION: 84-78, third in American League East