text: who will the yankees pick up this offseason? will they trade a-fraud and will they pick up clemens and/or pettite? pitching is the big problem. there are two major holes in the rotation. moose was resigned so that covers one spot. wang might go on to win the cy young this year so that's two.  randy johnson is an iffy third. fourth and fifth are wide open. the yanks did do the right thing and pick up a bunch of prospects. now will they be patience a year or two while these guys develop? few pitchers worth keeping are even good much less top notch the first 1-3 seasons in the rotation.  pedro martinez, randy johnson,  greg maddux,  curt schilling and the list goes on. look at the first couple years these guys pitched and you'll see lots of struggles going on.   as for pettite, that would be a great pick up. pettite has been the best stopper the yanks have had year after year. a crucial part of the pennent drives. when the yanks were in a losing streak it was always pettite that broke it up. also the only clutch pitcher the yanks have had since cone retired.  when the yanks really needed it you could count on a good performance from pettite. might not be a shutout but pettite was not going to get shelled. not in an important game. he's come up with more than a few gems when it was most needed.   with sheffield gone the yanks need to move giambi. that clears out the other steroid user and a huge contract.  picking up shelton from the tigers might be a good idea. the tigers obviously don't plan on playing shelton. he carried the tigers early in the year. big problem with the yanks are the team is too old. teams as old as the yankees are certain to suffer injury problems. they are rarely hungry. these guys all have their ws rings and some of them are just trying to finish off really good careers. though giambi doesn't have a ws ring for a reason. he's played on also rans his whole career and was supposed to be the spark plug to replace o'niel.  he didn't either spark or produce his first couple years. after that he didn't have the credibility to be a clubhouse leader. the yanks need a little fire, some motivation. hungry players. 1b is a great place to pick up a young motivated player. so is at least the 5th spot in the rotation.  abreu fits in nicely but he's a short term fix. his stats were declining in philly. so he'll probably come up with one more good year then start to decline again. possada as a catcher is getting way to old to count on. he's in injury territory in a very big way. the yanks need him to start training his successor much the same way gerlaldi taught possada. unlike geraldi possada if he transisitions before major injury can be an effective dh and 1b backup. the guy would hit 30+ hrs every year if he was not a catcher. he'd also probably add .010 to his ba.   a-rod in his worst season is the best 3b in baseball.  last year he had mvp like numbers. this year only excellent numbers and people are upset?  besides the fact only a few teams could afford that mega-mistake salary the rangers made with a-rod, would you really want to anger him? trade him to a potential rival and motivate him to prove the yankees were wrong?  it would come back and haunt the team.   so a starter or more starting prospects, a young 1b and a couple good catching prospects are what the yankees need.  there is no quick fix lets get in the series this year kind of changes the yanks can make. picking up vets just means a replay of 06 and it's injuries. bernie can cover dh if the new guys flop. melky might be the answer or might be somebody else. whatever the case he should get a serious audition. this is a good year for the yanks to sort out prospects and aim for 08,09 and 2010 world series.  the yanks can do a minor retooling this year and next or face a total rebuild in a couple years. either way no ws.    bernie, rivera, abreu, randy johnson, possada if he continues to catch, moose are the big names who probably only have a couple good years left in them. bernie is already probably playi