Only the worst kind of cynic – or a sports columnist, which is pretty much the same thing – could look at what the Yankees have done this week and point out that this is not the greatest Yankee team ever; it may not even be the greatest Yankee team this century.

Questions remain about this team that has added the greatest player in the game to a lineup that was already as potent as bathtub gin. They are the same questions that surrounded other great offensive teams, both Yankee and otherwise.

For those with short memories, the Red Sox last year had the best offense in the game, and they didn’t get to the World Series. In the National League, the Braves had their best offense ever; they didn’t get to the second round.

Then there were the Indians of the 90s, as fearsome an offensive team as we’ve seen. They got to the World Series twice and lost it twice, to Atlanta and Florida. Before them were the Yankees of the 80s, whose first four hitters were Rickey Henderson, Willie Randolph, Don Mattingly, and Dave Winfield – a top four that rivals their current projected lineup of Kenny Lofton, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Jason Giambi.

The fatal flaw of all those teams was pitching. They didn’t have enough, either as starters or relievers or both, to win in the playoffs, when great pitchers stop great hitters and good hitters light up mediocre pitchers.

The Yankees could have the same flaw. They’ve lost three starting pitchers, Roger Clemens, David Wells, and Andy Pettitte. Clemens and Wells are old and don’t have much left. Pettitte was in his prime, but had questions about an elbow that was chronically tender.

It’s not that the Yankees didn’t have to replace those three, sooner rather than later. But what they have replaced them with is a rotation that is less than awe-inspiring.

Instead of Pettitte or Clemens at the top of the rotation, the Yankees will go with Mike Mussina and Kevin Brown. Mussina is a solid pitcher who throws a lot of innings and puts up impressive ERAs. But he’s also a pitcher who can’t seem to win 20 games, a pitcher who does not save his best outings for the biggest games.

Brown, acquired from the Dodgers for the failed Jeff Weaver, has been one of the most talented pitchers in baseball for years, but he’s also been one of the most injured. He’s been on the disabled list five times in the past three seasons, and, at 39 years old, he’s not getting healthier. He’s also one of the game’s leading knuckleheads, possessed of a personality pricklier than a porcupine convention.

Javier Vazquez, acquired from Montreal, is, at 27, entering the prime of his career. He was terrific for the Expos, pitching in front of crowds that sometimes approached five digits. Jeff Weaver, come to think of it, was pretty darned good pitching for the Tigers, another team with no fans and no attention. Vazquez could turn out to be a 20-plus game winner for the Yankees. He could also look at 50,000 screaming Yankee fans and decide he’d rather be someplace else.

Then there’s Jon Lieber, who last pitched two years ago and is coming off Tommy John surgery. The history of people who have undergone that surgery is pretty good. But he’s still unproven.

Finally, unless he’s included in the A-Rod deal, there’s Jose Contreras, a Cuban refugee who may be 31, as he says he is, or may be four or five years older, as many suspect. No matter what his age, he was highly erratic for the Yankees last year and never gave any indication he would be any different in the future.

The odds are good that Brown will be injured again and that one of the other four will have problems. And the Yankees don’t have much behind them. Pitching could be a problem – big problem.

Thanks to a terrific bullpen, though, the starters won’t have to go much more than six innings. But the bullpen depends on the aging Mariano Rivera, who has been closing games since 1997 – an eternity in his line of work – staying healthy. He’s got Paul Quantrill, Felix Heredia, Tom Gordon, Gabe White and probably Steve Karsay ahead of him. It’s one of the best pens the Yankees have ever had, but if Rivera goes down, the Yankees will be in trouble.

The Yankees know their pitching isn’t what it used to be. But they probably figure they can give up four or five runs a game as long as they score five or six.

But their starting lineup isn’t as solid as it may look. Kenny Lofton is the ancient center fielder, still a good player, but not a great one anymore.

Giambi has watched his numbers fall dramatically over the past two seasons, and he was pretty much a bust in the postseason. Plus, he’s a perfectly terrible first baseman, and the Yankees have no one other than Tony Clark to play first.

And if Clark plays first, then Bernie Williams, who is expected to move to DH, either has to play center, a position he really can’t play anymore, to get his bat in the game. With A-Rod and Jeter at third and short, the Yankees will have a great left side in the infield. With Giambi and a role player at second, they will have a right side that will have to improve considerably to be ordinary.

Finally, there is the question of whether this is a team or just the greatest collection of salaries every assembled on an athletic field. When the Yankees won three straight and four in five years from 1996-2000, they had a team. They had guys like Paul O’Neill and Scott Brosius and Tino Martinez and even Chuck Knoblauch, guys who moved runners up and got clutch hits and were just tough, gritty ballplayers.

Today, they have Jeter and Williams from those old teams. They also have Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui, who have the personality and ability to perform in the clutch to fit on any great Yankee teams.

But the old Yankees had no one who was a problem child. The new Yankees have Brown and Lofton, a couple of guys who put themselves ahead of the team. They have Giambi, who hasn’t delivered in the clutch. They have Sheffield, who has been a decent citizen recently but has a history of selfish behavior.

And they don’t know what kind of teammate A-Rod will be. He’s already apparently showed a willingness to sacrifice by agreeing to move to third and let Jeter, the Yankee captain, remain at short, even though A-Rod is better at the position. That’s a good start.

We know he’ll hit. But we also know he won’t lead; he’s not a vocal kind of guy. And we also know if he becomes unhappy, he’ll figure out a way to let the world know, even if he doesn’t give the news out personally. It seems that no matter what his complaint was in Texas, word got out. The way he got his contract, after all, was by making himself bigger than the game.

Yes, it’s a great team -– on paper. But it hasn’t played a game yet, and that spackled-together pitching staff has yet to throw a pitch. We don’t know how much Lofton and Giambi can still hit. We don’t know who will play second. We don’t know how Rivera’s arm will hold up.

We don’t know a lot of things about these Yankees. What we do know is that they’re the most expensive team in history, a team put together by George Steinbrenner. He’ll be on them from the first day of spring training. And that’s something else we don’t know –- how will Lofton and Brown and A-Rod and Sheffield react when George throws his first fit?

With any luck, something will go wrong and we’ll find out.

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