A-Rod On The Move SI Writers • Verducci: The 'ultimate team move' • Head2Head: Good for baseball? | Reactions • CNNMoney: The rich are getting poorer • Tale of the Tape: Red Sox-Yankees • Taylor: Another hired gun for Steinbrenner • Donovan: A-Rod's shameful about-face • Analysis | Photo Gallery | Fantasy File Latest news • Rodriguez-Jeter friendship remains strained • Yankees introduce latest prize catch • A look at A-Rod's current contract

Resistance is futile. It's the New York Yankees' world and the rest of us are just living in it, watching Yankee owner George Steinbrenner acquire more. More of what? More of everything. More wealth, more power, more star players and inevitably, it seems, more World Series rings. Just more.

Steinbrenner's latest indulgence, the all-but-completed acquisition of shortstop Alex Rodriguez, the reigning American League MVP, gives the Yanks a lineup so potent it's almost ridiculous. With A-Rod, Derek Jeter, Gary Sheffield and Jason Giambi, forget about the Yanks dominating the All-Star Game -- it is conceivable that the heart of New York's batting order all could be in the Hall of Fame someday. Manager Joe Torre shouldn't bother bringing the lineup card out to home plate, he should just FedEx it directly to Cooperstown.

The Yankees didn't really need A-Rod, certainly not with the $179 million left on his contract. They would have been legitimate World Series contenders without boosting their payroll for the coming season into the $200 million range. But Steinbrenner doesn't think in terms of "need" -- he's all about "want." His Yankees are gluttons, gorging themselves on other teams' All-Stars, not because they have to, just because they can. You wonder, now that they have acquired the best player in baseball largely because they are the only team that can afford his price tag without even blinking, what else is there for the Yankees to buy? If they need someone to sing the national anthem, will they purchase Pavarotti? When they need someone to drive the team bus, will they go out and sign Dale Earnhardt Jr.?

Steinbrenner is the king of excess, but as he continues to acquire every possession possible, his franchise is losing something that's harder to put a finger on -- that mystique the Yankees are so proud of. Love them or hate them, everyone would agree that there used to be something magical about the Yankees; some special, indefinable quality that made people believe that the franchise somehow was touched by greatness. Ruth and Gehrig gave way to DiMaggio, who in turn gave way to Mantle and eventually Reggie Jackson, then later Jeter carried the banner. If they were not all lifetime Yankees, they seemed that way. There was something about being a Yankee that seemed to flow in certain players' veins.

Hired Guns Major acquisitions by the Yankees Player Via Contract Alex Rodriguez Trade 10 years, $252M Jason Giambi FA 7 years, $120M Kevin Brown Trade 7 years, $105M Mike Mussina FA 6 years, $88.5M Javier Vazquez Trade 4 years, $45M Gary Sheffield FA 3 years, $39M Jose Contreras FA 4 years, $32M Hideki Matsui FA 3 years, $21M Tom Gordon FA 2 years, $7.25M Paul Quantrill FA 2 years, $6.4M Kenny Lofton FA 2 years, $6.2M

But now, the only flow that matters is cash flow. The Yanks have a small core of homegrown talent, such as Jeter, Bernie Williams and Mariano Rivera, but for the most part they go out and raid other teams' refrigerators. Mike Mussina, Giambi, Sheffield and now A-Rod are all players who made their names in other places before Steinbrenner essentially bought them up, like a tycoon executing a hostile takeover.

So who are the Yankees now? Not a great team with a majestic, historic aura, but just another big company dominating its market. These Yankees have all the romance of Microsoft. They write big checks and come away with the stars of the moment, who pass through Yankee Stadium as if it were just another office, another place to go to work.

Roger Clemens may have made a show of rubbing the Yankee monuments when he was in pinstripes, but his supposed love of the franchise didn't keep him from bolting back to his home state of Texas to join the Houston Astros. Now Sheffield, Kevin Brown and A-Rod are the latest stars in Steinbrenner's stable, players who will profess their awe of the Yankee mystique, at least until their contracts expire. It's cold, it's corporate -- and it probably will work.

The Yankees with A-Rod very likely are bound for another World Series, and another and another. Steinbrenner will get what he paid for, even as he continues to lose the things that cannot be bought.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Phil Taylor writes about a Hot Button topic every Monday on SI.com.