On the Yankees beat

Anthony your list is quite on target. We loss any of the top 4. I call it a miracle if the Yanks make the playoffs. Derek can be a work around defensively. The team has plenty of offense to work off a loss of this nature. It is quite evident with their position now without Marsui, Sheff or Cano.

The Yankees lose anyone on the list it will be trouble....its been a rough year with injuries.

Mariano is #1 through 5. Jeter and Posada are tied for 6th, followed by Wang and Mussina.

Jeter is the Yankees best player this year, but not beyond that. Other than this season, A-Rod is the Yankees' best players, and during the run, Bernie was.

As for your question:

1) Mo
2) Po
3) Moose
4) Wang
5) Jeter

Excellent point on indispensible players.

The only point I would change is to put Jorge Posada in the first position. The catcher is probably the most important position on any team in controlling the tempo of a gameon a daily basis.

However losing any of those players would be a nightmare.

Mariano Rivera...Just imagine if the Yankees had to rely on Kyle Farnsworth-less to be the closer !

Let's not talk or wite anymore about losing anyone. We get Cano back and lose Cairo. Will we ever be whole again?

Personally I think losing Mo would hurt most emotionally for the team and the fans, but as for the performance as a whole it would be Jeter. Almost all of the quality innings the club has put together have started with, involved or been punched through by Jeter this year. Take his bat out of the line-up, his speed and his penchant for timely hitting and I think we are a .500 ball club. We win without Posada all the time. The bullpen could survive, I said could. The starters could rally without Moose or Wang. The team, the line-up, the emotion, the big hits when it counts, the awesome fielding plays all come from Derek. If he went down, Alex would never see shortstop if Torre is still there. Someone else would play short. NOONE wants that controversy least of all Alex right now. Could you imagine the boobirds if he struggled at short filling in for Derek!

There is only one truly indespensable Yankee -- Mariano Rivera. Everything is about getting the ball to him, and it has been that way for a decade.
Everyone else is replaceable in some fashion, but without No. 42 the Yankees go absolutely nowhere.

I have to agree with ur accessment , though I might put Wang ahead of Moose seeing how they've been pitching lately... and the fact that Wang's eatting up innings like no tomorrow

The easy/right choice is Carl Pavano...only in reverse.
IF he WAS playing, we would be terrible! Keep him away and we will keep winning!

There can be no debate; without Mariano we would have not won any of the championships of the last decade. None. The psyche of the fans, the organization, and the opponents all rides on whether or not Mariano lurks. He is the one reason I can sleep at night after blowing the 2001 World Series. We handed the ball to Mo up 2-1. 98% of the time, probably higher in the playoffs, Mo delivers the mail. That loss was particularly distasteful because I detest, but grudgingly respect, Curt Schilling and I have never liked Randy Johnson though we had to trade for him. We had both those pitchers beaten (1995 when Randy Velarde singled off Johnson to seemingly end that series and in both 2001 and 2004) only to see them slip off the hook and pick up some hardware in the process. In 1995 we were afraid to pitch John Wetteland and it cost us as Black Jack blew the series, but in 2001 and 2004 we had the best chance you could ever have to finish off a very tough opponent and Mo took two very tough losses.
1997 I don't even count because he was just getting his closer legs under him and that was a bit of a cheapie by Alomar. What this guy has accomplished and will accomplish is just the most satsifying thing in all my time as a Yankee fan (1967 to present). I can't even imagine what it will be like in five years without him. I'm dreading that day. Mo is a god and a rock star and my personal hero even as I own a Bernie Williams jersey and worship Derek Jeter. He is numero uno. Guys like Farnsworth are an absolute joke when compared to Mariano. He's the all time man. I think I am going to make it my business to be in Cooperstown when he gets enshrined. He has brought so much joy in my life I feel like I owe the guy as ridiculous as that sounds.

Everyone could have a legitimate argument on this topic and you'll be right. My opinion is as follows; we all know that you go as far as your pitching will take you, and lossing a reliable pitcher now would be the end. Who do we have to replace him? Ponson, Small......

It's interesting to think about because as everyone obviously knows and has pointed out, rivera is the most indespensible yankee, but what happens in probably about 3 years when hes cashed out. the guy is as solid as ever, but i can see him being this dominant past 40, and because hes a savage hes not gonna go randy bitchson status and play past his prime, hes gonna go out on top. i cant remember life without rivera and its gonna be tough. perhaps proctor is the his protege, but only time will tell.

John, your comments were profound about Mariano's meaning to this team. I have been a Yankee fan from 1955, a six year old. Living and breathing Mickey Mantle when the Yankees were tops,year in and year out. Pitching was key to all their victories. Guys like the Mick,Yogi, Elston, Clete, etc. They would get hurt especially the Mick but the team would still win because their bench was tops. Your right life without Mariano would be a heart attack waiting to happen. Farnsworth would put me in my grave way before my time. Even now Mariano doesn't strike them out as before but induces little fly balls or ground outs. And back in 2001 I was questioning Torre's move to pull the infield in. Jeter could had that ball from my prospective in the easy chair. Mariano was totally dominant then and the hits given up were the flairs or seeing eye grounders. This is why the Yankees must renew their faith in the farm system. Marianos' do not drop in your lap as a FA signing.

Mull, funny how much the over 40 set still has vested in the pinstripes. Wanna know where I live? You are never going to believe it...yep, Boston. I go to spring training the last two weeks of March every year and it's my only chance to hang with fellow Yankee fans. I think if we can win the division this year with all the injuries, and I feel like we are going to, it will be the sweetest thing in a long while. Anyway, big yes on the farm system. I cringe watching Papelbon pitch. I loved it that ex Yankee Dioner Navarro took him deep to pin a loss on them last Sunday. I hope once he goes around the league a couple of times he turns into a Francisco Cordero type; dominant at times, but once he gets rocked a few times and takes some tough losses maybe he loses a little mental edge. I'm happy Bobby Abreu is here, but I wonder how Craig Hansen will eventually turn out. I hope not very well, but he was ours for the taking. You don't dump a number one a year later in this type of trade unless he was a mistake. It looks like they are admitting as much without saying it out loud, but Cashman just fired a bunch of scouts I hear. Good. Wang, Cano, Huges, and Tabata give or take a sleeper like Tyler Clippard is about all we have done lately. The Yankees should be a machine of grooming and pruning (at the big league level). When other teams screw up in a Rule 5 scenario or offer an undeveloped throw in when talking deal (hello Scott Proctor...why does everyone seem to think he is a product of our farm system?) we should be right there to pounce. Cleveland seems to be screwing around with several young potential closers (thanks Eric for fooling around with a rookie closer in the Boston series...they should have swept the Red Sox and I had the extreme misfortune to be present for the Monday night Big Papi game ender....that makes two this year along with the Loretta-Guardado Marathon Monday fiasco. Even in cognito few things in life are as distasteful as a full out Fenway celebration when the should have lost) in Carmona, Mujica, Cabrera, Davis and Betancourt. Why not snag one of those guys for Columbus so we can get an honest to goodness trainee instead of fooling around with Jesus Colome? We need to identify and sign up and comers in hiding like, say, Scot Shields four years ago.
Juan Rincon. Rafael Soriano. Bobby Jenks. JJ Putz. All of these guys, Jenks in particular, could have been had very easily not too long ago and now they are untouchable. I think Cashman will turn this scenario around now that he has real power, but it makes us look bad that we cannot identify these types of bargains to supplement our FA spending. Imagine Jenks as the bridge to Mariano? What does he make? $400K (guessing)? Kyle Farnsworth? Priceless. I would love to make a habit of trafficking in kids whose stock is down due to injury or circumstance. Casey Kotchman, Dallas McPherson, Cory Patterson, Dan Johnson, Chris Shelton, etc. Carlos Pena was a step in that direction too. They obviously are not all going to pan out, but guys like Craig Monroe turn up all the time. I realize our win now and high priced expensive signings get in the way of this at times, but we can gradually ween ourselves off the highest priced and most experienced FAs to something more well rounded, less controversial and less prima donnaish if we work hard on the farm. I think the Yankees are headed in that direction, but it's going to take time and you have to feed the fan machine so that we keep on contending. It's not easy and I certainly don't have any of the answers, but I agree whole heartedly; strengthen the farm.

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