If the New York Yankees can ink CC Sabathia to a free-agent contract, it'll go a long way towards restoring the Bombers' dominance of the late '90s.

The New York Yankees will not be denied. The Yankees will blow away all other suitors for pitcher CC Sabathia. Hank and Hal Steinbrenner will open up the vault and make Fort Knox look like a piggy bank.

Just Go All Out and Get Sabathia

Forget about all the other free-agent pitchers out there. Get Sabathia. Sabathia is the first priority.

Any talk from Sabathia about wanting to stay in the National League is, at worse, true, only to mean the Yankees will change his mind with a bigger number, or at best, a ploy to loosen the Yankees’ purse strings.

Either way, Sabathia knows the Yankees desperately want him and need him, and they’re able and willing to pay.

Sabathia will be the starting pitcher for the New York Yankees come Opening Day ’09. Put this in the bank.

Other Pitching Rotation Possibilities

Perhaps the Yankees can also add Derek Lowe, to round out the pitching staff, if the numbers make baseball sense, as the team has question marks with the possible retirement of Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte, and the worrisome lack of development of Phil Hughes.

Only Chien-Ming Wang is a certified ace on the current Yankees pitching staff.

Should Joba Chamberlain come out of the bullpen or start? With starters Sabathia, Wang, Lowe, and either Mussina or Pettitte, maybe Chamberlain makes more sense coming out of the bullpen.

A pitching-relief duo of Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera will ostensibly shorten games to six or seven innings.

The Yankees have made it clear, however, that they will start Chamberlain.

The Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series with one great starting pitcher, a lock-down bullpen, timely hitting, and guts.

With the pitching possibilities outlined above, let’s turn our attention to hitting and guts.

Other Key Positions: First Base and Center Field

Forget about first-baseman Mark Teixeira. The Yankees don’t need a $200 million fixture at first. Jorge Posada can move to first and play some designated hitter. (Jose Molina can take up the bulk of the catching duties and provide solid defense.)

New York needs an everyday player in center field, like they had in Bernie Williams. Perhaps they can workout a trade somewhere, but at what price? Can they wrest Nate McLouth from the Pittsburgh Pirates or even Rocco Baldelli from the Tampa Bay Rays?

Xavier Nady playing in right field is perfectly fine.

With dumping Jason Giambi and Bobby Abreu, the Yankees will have to replace some bats. I’ve made the case for Manny Ramirez on a purely emotional basis, but practically and realistically, I’m not sure it makes sense with the team’s current logjam of aging outfielders.

Batting Lineup

Maybe the answer to replacing these bats is closer than you think and doesn’t require a free-agent acquisition. The Yankees do have Alex Rodriguez, Nady, Johnny Damon (who had an outstanding offensive season last year), Posada, Hideki Matsui, Derek Jeter (who can provide some timely hitting), and Robinson Cano (with the hope of a turnaround season).

Summary

So in short: Get Sabathia, get Lowe at the right price, sign either Mussina or Pettitte, pass on Teixeira, make a trade for a center fielder, and hope that the Yankees’ bats from last year come alive as they should.