Mike Celizic

The Yankees just became the team to beat — and not just in the American League.

New York reportedly has landed first baseman Mark Teixeira, continuing one of the most profligate spending sprees in baseball history. If true, the team that has clearly not given up on the idea that champions are purchased, not born, has all the big pieces of a new dynasty in place.

All the Boston Red Sox can do is watch and wonder what the Evil Empire will do next.

And all indications are that there’s more to come. It could be Manny Ramirez, although he would strain even the Yankees' budget. It could be another front-line pitcher. It could be center fielder Matt Kemp and more bullpen help in a trade with the Dodgers for second baseman Robinson Cano.

But it will be something. The Yankees swallowed what for them is the ultimate ignominy last year. They finished third in the AL East to the Rays and Red Sox. It was the year of fiscal responsibility and build-from-within in the Bronx, and it didn’t work. In 2009, it will be back to checkbook warfare.

The difference between this and previous spending sprees is that the Yankees so far have spent their money on players in their primes, and not on aging all-stars on the down slopes of their careers. They’ve also signed guys who should fit in well with their teammates.

What’s most impressive with the normally impulsive Yankees is the methodical way that general manager Brian Cashman has gone about his off-season labors.

The Yankees’ first need was pitching, and that’s already been taken care of with the signings of CC Sabathia, the best free-agent pitcher on the market, and A.J. Burnett, arguably the second-best of the group. Those acquisitions alone propelled the Yankees into contender status in the AL East with Boston and the Rays.

The next need was a big bat in the heart of the lineup to replace the power the team lost with the departures of Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi. Teixeira’s 162-game average over his six-year career is 121 RBI, 101 runs, 36 home runs and a .378 on-base percentage.

He’s a superior defensive first baseman and best of all, he’s a switch hitter. Best of all, he’s no aging superstar. He’ll be 29 on April 1, and his stat curve would suggest he’s just reaching his full potential.

The signing is a double whammy for Boston. The Red Sox had Teixeira high on their shopping list, but apparently didn’t have the financial willpower to do give Teixeira the $180 over eight years that his agent, Scott Boras, demanded. The Orioles and Nationals were said to be in the hunt, but it’s likely there were just negotiating tools. The real target all along, as it turn out, was New York.

With Teixeira gone to the Yankees, there is no Plan B for the Red Sox. They’re not going to re-sign Ramirez, and there isn’t another comparable bat out there. The Yankees, meanwhile, can still sign Manny to play left field, further beefing up a line-up that had begun to falter.

They’re not a perfect team, and they’re still probably not the equal of the team that won four out of five World Series from 1996-2000. They’re weak in left field, where age and bad arms have caught up with Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui. New acquisition Nick Swisher has potential, but will be a downgrade if he is plugged in for Bobby Abreu in right.

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Jorge Posada, a potent switch-hitter, will be back at catcher after losing most of 2008 with shoulder problems, but his skills as a catcher are beginning to erode. Center field is unsettled, with Swisher being a candidate to play there along with youngster Brett Gardner. Gardner is blessed with extraordinary speed, but he has yet to prove he can hit at the major league level. Melky Cabrera, once the center fielder of the future, fell so precipitously last year he was exiled to the Yankees’ Scranton farm club.

Cano also took a huge step backwards last year, and needed a feverish run at the end of the season to get his average up to .271, more than 30 points below 2007. His RBIs were down to 72 from 97, and he had 15 fewer extra-base hits and scored 23 fewer runs than he had a year earlier.

But the biggest parts of a contender are in place. The Yankees have a rotation that should stand up to Boston’s and Tampa’s. They have a lineup that will stand up to anyone. They’ve got Mariano Rivera in the bullpen.

Now, starting at first base, they have the Teixeira, a great kid with a great bat and glove.

They’re back on top — on paper, at least. And all Boston and the rest of the league can do is sit back and wonder what they’ll do next. Because the Yankees aren’t done yet.

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