The major league-leading $200 million payroll, the offseason spending spree and the roster that reads like an All-Star roll call suggest the New York Yankees will be back in the postseason hunt in 2009.
A team needs more than just talent and a hefty payroll to get to the playoffs, though. The 2008 version of the Yankees proved that.
That's why Yankees second-year manager Joe Girardi canceled a February workout and took his players to a pool hall for an all-day billiards tournament.
Team unity, thy name is Yankee.
"We're trying to stress togetherness and the need to come together as a team," Girardi said this spring. "When you bring in new people, as we do all the time here, it's important for everybody to feel like you're all on the same page."
The goal for the Yankees is simple: re-establish the dominance of the late 1990s, when they won four World Series in five years (1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000).
In 2008, the Yankees finished 89-73, eight games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East and two games back of the archrival Boston Red Sox for the wild card. It broke the franchise's streak of 13 straight playoff appearances.
"I think mainly guys were just mad. I know I was mad - mad that we missed the playoffs and mad that I wasn't able to be here to help," said catcher Jorge Posada, who missed more than 100 games last season because of injury. "If you've been here for the past 10 or so years, like me ... you're used to making the playoffs."
To enhance its postseason chances, this offseason the team spent $423.5 million on starting pitchers CC Sabathia (seven years, $161 million) and A.J. Burnett (five years, $82.5 million) and first baseman Mark Teixeira (eight years, $180 million).
Because they didn't re-sign Jason Giambi, Bobby Abreu and former Oriole Mike Mussina, the Yankees' overall payroll for 2009 actually decreased. But their expectations for making the playoffs are higher, if possible.
"There's always pressure here. If we'd made the playoffs [last year] and won the World Series, there would still be pressure to do it again," Girardi said. "Nobody in that room is happy with the way last year ended."
Sabathia and Burnett lead a rotation that includes two-time 19-game winner Chien-Ming Wang, two-time All-Star Andy Pettitte and young fireballer Joba Chamberlain. Last year, the Yankees' starters had a collective 4.58 ERA, ninth of 14 AL teams.
