STARTING ROTATION

Brian Snyder / REUTERS Curt Schilling

You don’t need any more reason than this to predict the first Yankees’ World Series title since 2000: To a team that won 101 regular-season games and came within an inning of winning its seventh pennant in nine years, they have added a first-ballot Hall of Famer and arguably the game’s most dominant pitcher, plus two others who won 33 games between them last season.

After an injury-riddled 2003, 41-year-old Randy Johnson was as good as ever in 2004, when a lack of run support cost him another Cy Young Award. Mike Mussina is an ace on most teams, but an excellent No. 2 here. True, Carl Pavano only has had one big season and is 56-58 lifetime. But he is similar to Mussina in his meticulous nature and durability since overcoming arm problems early in his career. Jaret Wright has had his share of health and maturity issues in his career, but he was the ace of team that won a division title and 95 games last season.

Kevin Brown at the back end of a rotation? That’s what it has come to, as at 39, he has lost velocity and bite on his formerly deadly sinker. But that doesn’t mean he can’t win in double figures once again if he can make 25-plus starts. The problem is what happens if somebody goes down? Tanyon Sturtze is the best alternative at this point.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox’s rotation also has changed, but maybe not for the better. Curt Schilling will miss at least the first two weeks of the season, but appears to be capable of another big year as the ace. Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe are gone, and in their place is 41-year-old David Wells, who will start Opening Day, and Matt Clement, who should win up to 15 games with the kind of run support he will receive from the Red Sox offense. Wade Miller could be a nice addition when healthy, which should be in May, but nobody knows for certain how long he’ll be able to hold up. Bronson Arroyo could be a surprise 15-game winner, and Tim Wakefield will keep flipping knuckleballs. Soft-tossing lefty John Halama could get a few spot starts. But make no mistake, Pedro as ace 1A will be missed.

BULLPEN

Charles Krupa / AP Keith Foulke

The Yankees made sure that closer Mariano Rivera and top setup men Tom Gordon and Paul Quantrill won’t be overworked again by adding quality bullpen depth in Mike Stanton, Felix Rodriguez and Buddy Groom. And it’s a good thing, too, as Rivera is suffering from some elbow bursitis, Quantrill has a rib-cage muscle injury, and Steve Karsay’s shoulder still isn’t 100 percent. We’re going to assume for now that none of these injuries are major, and if not, Torre has more quality and depth in his bullpen than in recent years. But if Rivera goes down for an extended period, all bets are off.

Armed with a deadly changeup and a lot of guile, Keith Foulke is one of the best closers in the league. Veterans Mike Timlin and Alan Embree are a solid left-right setup combination. But beyond that, there could be some cause for concern. Injury-riddled Matt Mantei is healthy for now and could emerge as a key figure. But they may have to rely on some young arms for middle-relief innings, as they are expected to deal Byung-Hyun Kim.

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