Alex Rodriquez is now a New York Yankee and the world is in uproar. Last season’s American League Most Valuable Player (.298 BA, 47 HR, 118 RBI) was traded for Alfonso Soriano (.290 BA, 38 HR, 35 Stolen Bases) and a player to be named later. The Yankees now have the two of the three best shortstops in the American League (Nomar Garciaparra being the other) playing in the infield with A-Rod projected to play third base for the first time in his major league career.

The Rangers got some needed money to spend on a pitcher and other players they could have never gotten with A-Rod’s contract, which was valued at 252 million American dollars four years ago. The Rangers agreed to pay over $60 million of that contract which tells you how much they wanted to get rid of his contract.

They also got a hell of a player in Soriano who is only 26 years old and is in his third season full season in the majors. While a free swinger and a liability at second base, Soriano has the potential to be a great one for years. He will probably move to the outfield in Texas under manager Buck Showalter.

So the big question is has this move made the Yankees once again a lock to win the World Series?

Don’t think so!

The Yankee teams that won the whole thing won with defense, clutch hitting and most importantly pitching.
While the Yanks have improved defensively in some positions by signing Kenny Lofton to play centerfield as well as leadoff but lost Nick Johnson at first and will play Jason Giambi at first more than last year while Bernie Williams moves from center and plays Designated Hitter more. They added Gary Sheffield (.330 BA, 39 HR, and 132 RBI) and his power from the right side but they have lost some of those clutch players that understood their roles and had experience in the playoffs. Namely players like Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, and David Wells.

Pettitte in particular is a huge loss as he was by far the most consistent playoff performer they had and was there throughout those championship seasons of 96 and 98-00.

Newly acquired pitchers Kevin Brown (14-9, 2.39 ERA last season) and Javier Vasquez (13-12, 3.24 ERA last season) have impressive resumes but when’s the last time they have been clutch in a crucial situation? For Brown it was in the 1997 World Series before he left for millions in Los Angeles with the Dodgers and for Vasquez it was never as he has been with the Expos for years.

Mike Mussina has been one of the games best pitchers in the regular season (17-8 last season) but has struggled mightily in the playoffs and the rest of the rotation is relatively unproven (Jose Contreras (7-2, 3.30 ERA) and Jon Lieber (no record last season)).

It will be these pitchers along with the bullpen that acquired Paul Quantrill and Tom Gordon in the off-season who will need to get the ball to Mariano Rivera (40 saves). Quantrill is coming off a season in which he went 2-5 record with a 1.75 ERA and Gordon is coming off a 7-6 record with a 3.16 ERA. Both will need to do better.

Manager Joe Torre, fifth all-time in World Series victories with 21 compared to 11 losses, is already tired of owner George Steinbrenner’s over the top antics and will be under pressure to win it all again and any falter to do so will lead to either Torre resigning or Steinbrenner firing him.

Torre’s long time bench coach Don Zimmer already left for Tampa Bay after dealing with “The Boss” but Torre is still one of the best managers in the game in terms of avoiding distractions, motivating his players and letting them play so if anyone can deal with this All-Star team it would be him.

A-Rod finally got tired of being the only guy in Texas with talent to win it all. In New York he will be one of many multimillionaires and will be backed by players like Jason Giambi, Sheffield and Jorge Posada. The pressure is off as long as he contributes not dominates.

The Boston Red Sox lost out again as they were the ones that supposed to get A-Rod and they have Terry Francona. Even as an opportunist I feel sorry for the players cause Francona would probably sit Pedro and Schilling in the deciding game of a playoff series! (He sat Scott Rolen on Scott Rolen day!) Still they have the pitching and the home field advantage to give the Yankees great regular and postseason matchups.

It will be interesting to see if money can buy a championship this year. Remember that The Arizona Diamondbacks (‘01) and Florida Marlins (’03) proved that clutch hitting and pitching can give the Yankees plenty of problems.