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This is far from one of the best Yankees teams. In fact, ignoring all the great oldies ('27, early '30s, etc.), this is probably the worst or second worst team they've put together since they began this run in the mid-90s. Their rotation includes Johnson, whose incredible, Moose, who is just quite good at this point in his career, Kevin Brown, who is far less than he used to be and always injured, and Los Dos Overrated, Wright and Pavano.
The lineup includes Womack (blech), a who-knows-what-the-hell-we'll-get Giambi, and no bench to speak of (which is actually true of all the Yankee teams of recent years). The bullpen has Rivera and Jackson.
This is a very good team. Right there, in terms of offense and pitching, it probably could compete with most of the Yanks teams of their recent run. But there's always a rub: I can't believe how bad their defense is. Posada is average, ARod is amazing, and...uh...Matsui, Sheffield, and Womack are moderately below average. Jeter is way below average (face it: he sucks up what he can get to like a vacuum, but he's got all the range of Paris Hilton facial expressions), and Bernie is terrible. That outfield is gonna give up SO MANY extra hits.
So the Yanks are a good team, no doubt. But they are not one of the best ever, let alone within the last few years.
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