The highest-paid player in the game has reached its biggest stage. Alex Rodriguez is a Yankee. It’s the ultimate rich-get-richer story.

They did it because they are the only team that could. So what if it’s not good for the competitive balance in the game? George Steinbrenner doesn’t care. His stacked deck is within the rules, and he’s tired of falling short the last three Octobers. And this is the one thing he could have done to trump the Boston Red Sox, erase the events of an otherwise dreadful winter and put his team back in the position of team to beat – and envy.

Rodriguez is only 28, and already within a couple homers of the most ever as a shortstop. But desperate to get out of a hopeless situation in Texas in part caused by his franchise-wrecking deal, he put that milestone on hold and agreed to switch to third base. And now the Yankees have him -- and the Red Sox don’t because they weren’t willing to dig a little deeper and come up with $15 million or so to get a deal done earlier this winter.

It’s scary to think A-Rod’s best years probably are ahead of him, because he’s averaged .305, 52 homers and 132 RBI over the last three. Think of the milestones he could reach in pinstripes -- 500, 600, 700, even 800 homers, and 3,000 hits. Win a World Series this October -- or possibly a string of them –- and he could become the most-recognizable figure in sports, the next Michael Jordan. Or Babe Ruth, coincidentally another No. 3 whom the Red Sox let slip away.

But put the best player on the best team, and what else is supposed to happen other than the Yankees winning it all? Which means the pressure on A-Rod and his new teammates is going to go beyond its already relentless level. This is a team that can’t lose to the New York Mets in a meaningless exhibition game without facing the wrath of the owner, so how much pressure is it going to feel trying to take the final step it hasn’t been able to in its last two World Series appearances? Or worse yet, what if it gets tripped up before the World Series?

You want about 200 million reasons why the Yankees have to win? Start here:

By assuming $112 million of what remains on A-Rod’s deal, the Yankees have four players with $100-plus-million contracts – Rodriguez (10 years, $252 million), Derek Jeter (10 years, $189 million), Jason Giambi (seven years, $120 million) and Kevin Brown (seven years, $105 million). It’s safe to assume that’s a first in baseball history. Three of those four will be on an infield worth more than half a billion dollars. That’s right, billion.

Nine more Yankees are on huge, long-term deals:  Mike Mussina (six years, $88.5 million), Bernie Williams (seven years, $87.5 million), Jorge Posada (five years, $51 million), Gary Sheffield (four years, $45 million), Javier Vazquez (four years, $45 million), Mariano Rivera (four years, $40 million), Jose Contreras (four years, $32 million), Steve Karsay (four years, $22.25 million) and Hideki Matsui (three years, $21 million).

Torre will put a $95-million regular lineup on the field: Kenny Lofton ($3.1 million), Jeter ($17 million), Rodriguez ($22 million, $15 million paid by Yankees), Sheffield ($11 million), Giambi ($14 million), Williams ($12.3 million), Matsui ($7 million), Posada ($9 million) and MiguelCairo/Enrique Wilson ($900,000)/($800,000).

The five-man rotation almost hits the $50-million mark – more than a handful of entire teams: Brown ($15 million), Mussina ($14 million), Vazquez ($10.5 million), Contreras ($7 million) and Jon Lieber ($2.45 million).

The projected six-man bullpen will earn about $25 million, roughly the entire Devil Rays’ payroll: Rivera ($8.9 million), Karsay ($5 million), Tom ‘Flash’ Gordon ($3.6 million), Paul Quantrill ($3 million), Gabe White ($3 million), Felix Heredia ($1.7 million).

It’s a burden 29 other teams, front offices and managers would love to have, but it’s not going to be an easy one. And much of it is going to fall on Joe Torre, who after eight years in the pressure cooker, obviously is wearing thin. It is Torre who has been the calming buffer between the clubhouse and the madhouse combination of owner and Big Apple media. But unlike any other season, Torre enters this one essentially as a lame duck. He is working on the final year of his deal, and made it clear he doesn’t want an extension. And now he faces his toughest task – molding a disparate group of stars brought together with only one goal in mind – winning it all. At any cost, as a payroll approaching $200 million attests.

And don’t think it will stop there, as they could use another starting pitcher and a second baseman. Already, they are about $70 million over the luxury-tax threshold – a level that only the Red Sox also are expected to top, and barely. If the new mix doesn’t come together soon enough, Torre may not get a chance to finish on his terms.

Another of the major reasons for the Yankees’ last run of success from 1996-2000 -- when they won four of five World Series -- was a tight, workmanlike clubhouse unified by Paul O’Neill, Tino Martinez, Scott Brosius and Joe Girardi. Nobody has used those words to describe Brown, Sheffield and Lofton – three of the other newcomers besides A-Rod. And now that Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens are gone, only four players remain from that last World Series-winning roster – Posada, Jeter, Williams and Rivera.

Only five players – Posada, Jeter, Matsui, Williams and Giambi -- return to the every day lineup, and Williams is shifting from center field to designated hitter, where Giambi spent almost as much time last season as he did at first base. That means there will be a bit of a transitional period for the latter two, as well as for Lofton, Sheffield, Rodriguez and the second-base platoon.

And let’s not even get into the possibility of a shortstop controversy. It is A-Rod –- and not Jeter -- who has won the last two AL Gold Gloves at the position –- and rightfully so, as any observer will tell you. And even with second-base liability Alfonso Soriano removed, the Yankees defense needs all the help it can get. Rodriguez, a brilliant shortstop, will take some time to adjust to third base. Meanwhile Jeter’s range diminishes each season. Giambi is playing on a bad knee, and isn’t a good defender even at 100 percent. Lofton is 37 and Sheffield 35.

The other, most-important reason for the Yankees’ success has been their dominant starting pitching, but that’s no sure thing anymore, either. Ninety-six starts from last year have gone away in the forms of Pettitte, Clemens and David Wells. Not to mention both left-handed starters in a home park suited to them. The bullpen is deeper and better if Karsay is healthy again. But there is no guarantee Contreras or Lieber can stay healthy and productive all season. The same goes for the 39-year-old Brown.

Put it this way -- that expected big boost in offense with A-Rod and Sheffield – two of the best right-handed hitters in the game -- added to a lineup that scored 877 runs last season might be needed. Or someone else will have to pay.

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