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Projected Lineup (2003 Stats) Pos. Player Avg. HR RBI SB SS Derek Jeter .324 10 52 11 DH Bernie Williams .263 15 64 5 3B Alex Rodriguez .298 47 118 17 1B Jason Giambi .250 41 107 2 RF Gary Sheffield .330 39 132 18 C Jorge Posada .281 30 101 2 LF Hideki Matsui .287 16 106 2 2B Enrique Wilson .230 3 15 3 CF Kenny Lofton .296 12 46 30 Projected Rotation (2003 Stats) H Player W-L ERA WHIP RH Mike Mussina 17-8 3.40 1.08 RH Kevin Brown 14-9 2.39 1.14 RH Javier Vazquez 13-12 3.24 1.11 RH Jose Contreras 7-2 3.30 1.15 RH Jon Lieber* 6-8 3.70 1.17 *2002 FANTASY BASEBALL Sign up Today! • NEW! Baseball Commissioner Full service league management tool. $99.95 per league • NEW! Fantasy Baseball Conquer your league and take home the pennant. $19.95 per team • NEW! Salary Cap Challenge Select your dream team with a $75 million budget. $9.95 per team

The latest installment of Murderer's Row features holdovers Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi, Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui, alongside newcomers Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield. But the Yankees will go only as far as their formidable-yet-fragile rotation can take them.

In this lineup, Alex Rodriguez is just one of the guys, so our choice is Mariano Rivera. Despite shoulder problems that disabled him in April, Rivera's health was good enough to accrue 40 saves in 46 chances. An improved offense puts Rivera in position to top the 50-saves mark.

Bernie Williams entered camp ready to fend off Kenny Lofton for the center field job. Williams' emergency appendix surgery put the competition on hold for now, but he's expected to return to the lineup by early April. Although he'll have a better season than last, when creaky knees severely limited him both at the plate and in center, the flaky Williams will have a hard time keeping his head in the game between his DH at-bats. In any case, a minimum .280 average and 20 home runs are expected.

Second Base. Enrique Wilson, Miguel Cairo and Homer Bush are vying for the only spot in the lineup not filled by a megastar. Cairo, who has a little pop in his bat, would be the only one of the three who'd even make a blip on the fantasy screen, but look for Joe Torre to give the job to Wilson.

With the departure of Alfonso Soriano there are only two Yankees who will run -- Lofton and Jeter. There will be a tendency to overrate Lofton, but if somehow his value slides he's not a bad mid-to-late pick.

When Rivera was hurt last season, his replacement, the flammable Juan Acevedo, burned the Yankees. Lesson learned. This year the prime set-up man and alternate closer is Tom Gordon, who still throws one of the best curves in baseball. He saved 12 of 17 opportunities last season for the White Sox. Should the oft-injured Gordon also go down, rubber armed Paul Quantrill steps in.

He's billed as a former 20-game winner and there's no disputing that Jon Lieber had a great 2000 season, when he was 20-6 with a 3.80 ERA and 1.15 WHIP. Reconstructive elbow surgery aside, one outstanding season does not a career make. Even if he wasn't missing the start of the season with a groin injury, he'd likely finish with no more than 10 wins and an ERA around 4.25 in his first year pitching for New York.

Jose Contreras, Travis Lee

Steve Karsay, Ruben Sierra, Gabe White