Power of Caring
  presented by CIGNA

Though he's the first player to win a batting title, Gold Glove and World Series in the same year, Williams ceded the off-season spotlight to others. Chuck Solomon

New York Yankees

These Yanks can't possibly be better than last year, can they? Yeah, they can

By Tom Verducci

One hundred sixty-two games of light calisthenics await the Yankees. Only the crucible of October, when a hot pitcher or two can dominate a series, will make them sweat. They are Michael Jordan's Bulls, as close to a sure thing as you get in sports.

The Yankees were at least 22 games better than every other team in the American League last season. Now they're even better because clutch pitcher Orlando Hernandez, who spent two months in the minors last year, has a full season ahead of him, as does designated hitter Chili Davis, who missed all but 35 games with an ankle injury. They're better, too, because they traded for one of the best pitchers in history, Roger Clemens, without really hurting themselves. The cost of 37 2/3 innings (lefthanded reliever Graeme Lloyd), 71 at bats (backup infielder Homer Bush) and an out-of-nowhere 18-4 season (lefthanded starter David Wells) brought giggles to the New York clubhouse.

Manager Joe Torre (fourth season with New York) 1998 Record 114-48 (First in AL East) Prediction First in AL East Batting Order 2B Chuck Knoblauch SS Derek Jeter RF Paul O'Neill CF Bernie Williams 1B Tino Martinez DH Chili Davis C Jorge Posada 3B Scott Brosius LF Ricky Ledee Starters RH Roger Clemens RH David Cone LH Andy Pettitte RH Orlando Hernandez RH Hideki Irabu Bullpen RH Mariano Rivera LH Mike Stanton RH Jeff Nelson RH Darren Holmes RH Dan Naulty RH Ramiro Mendoza

Next Up... "He's going to be the best defensive catcher in the league this year," Joe Girardi boasted of his fellow backstop, Jorge Posada, during the spring. Girardi was reminded that Ivan Rodriguez and Charles Johnson also play in the American League. "I said the best," Girardi replied defiantly. Such praise is a testament to the hard work of Posada, 27, who converted to catcher in A ball in 1992 and led his minor league in either errors or passed balls in 1993 and '94. His bat has improved, too. Though he started only 91 games in '98, Posada had more RBIs (63) than any catcher in the league except Rodriguez. "He's going to be an All-Star -- very soon," says manager Joe Torre.

"I love Boomer," said one Yankee, "but getting the Rocket? There's no comparison."

Says pitcher David Cone, "Yes, we are a better team -- on paper. That's not easy to say after you've won [125] games, but it's true."

Because of the fuss over Clemens, Bernie Williams -- the centerfielder, cleanup hitter, batting champion and highest-paid Yankee ever ($87.5 million over seven years) -- reported to camp this year with hardly anyone noticing. "Bernie Williams is a footnote here," Cone says.

Tino Martinez was wallpaper too. That's not normally how you'd describe a player who joined Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio as the only Yankees to drive in 120 runs in back-to-back seasons. Paul O'Neill? The hitter with the fifth-best batting average in Yankees history (.317) created more of a stir playing drums behind John Mellencamp in Indianapolis this winter than he did at training camp.

The Yankees' personality hasn't changed much. They're still so filthy rich that they made Joe Girardi, a 31-RBI man and backup catcher, the fourth-highest-paid backstop in the league ($3.4 million). Their rotation is still so deep that Ramiro Mendoza, who would be a No. 2 starter on many teams, will remain in the bullpen as a long reliever. Their lineup is still so loaded that World Series MVP Scott Brosius -- who improved his RBI total from 41 in 1997, with Oakland, to 98 with New York last year -- will bat eighth or ninth. "If you're a pitcher facing this lineup, where do you draw a breath?" says Brosius.

Owner George Steinbrenner brought back both Girardi and Brosius despite having younger, cheaper replacements available (Jorge Posada and prospect Mike Lowell, who was traded in February to Florida). "That's the way it should be," O'Neill says. "Trying to repeat means trying to repeat with the same people."

Clemens, though, does change the clubhouse dynamic a bit. The 36-year-old five-time Cy Young winner has whiffed 3,153 batters without having won a world championship; only Hall of Famers Don Sutton, Gaylord Perry, Phil Niekro and Ferguson Jenkins have struck out more and gone ringless. Getting Clemens a ring will have the emotional tug of getting Elway a Super Bowl win, Earnhardt a Daytona victory or Lemmon a weekend tee time at Pebble Beach. "I was worried a little about complacency," Steinbrenner says. No more.

"Last year we added [Chuck] Knoblauch and now Clemens," O'Neill says. "Adding a premier player is exciting to a team. I know when we faced a guy like Clemens, you ran that extra sprint and took that extra stretch before the game. It's the first thing you think of when you wake up that day, knowing if he's on, he can flat out blow you away."

New York Yankees

Every team is vulnerable, of course, even a team favored to join the 1972-74 Oakland Athletics as the only clubs in the expansion era to win three world championships in four years or less. Well, if you think hard they're vulnerable. The Yankees will miss the cool guidance and professionalism of manager Joe Torre, who'll be out at least the first six weeks of the season while he recuperates from surgery for prostate cancer. New York, though, does have a sage replacement in Don Zimmer, Torre's copilot on the bench for the past three years. The 68-year-old Zimmer, who has been in the professional game since 1949, is a highly respected game strategist who should keep things running smoothly in Torre's absence.

New York doesn't have the same pitching balance it had last year, as Andy Pettitte and Mike Stanton are the only lefthanders on the staff. For all of Clemens's regular-season mastery, he has won fewer postseason games (one) than David Weathers (two), and he's winless in his last seven playoff starts. Wells, by contrast, is 8-1 in the postseason, including 4-0 against Cleveland, the Yankees' most formidable obstacle to another World Series appearance. "It's not a real big deal from our perspective," Indians general manager John Hart says of the Clemens-Wells swap. "Wells could throw his glove out there and beat us."

Alas, nitpick we must in search of a compelling plot twist to this baseball season. Jordan's Bulls never had a dominating center, right?

Issue date: March 29, 1999