I'm not sure what you said "was to be expected"; If it's the decrease in offensive production that you're talking about, I don't see where you said it.

And if their pitching is, in fact, better than Boston's - which I think it is - then I still say they better pick up another bat before their offense goes completely south before they worry about getting another starter.

If they were 24-13 with Matsui and Sheffield in the lineup, that tells me that their pitching is good enough to win if their offense is intact.

Since they're 11-13 with the two of them out of the lineup, that tells me that since the pitching staff is basically the same, they need more offense right now, not more pitching.

Anyway....

I guess it depends on what you consider a "successful" season to be.

If simply making the playoffs qualifies as a success, then sure, the Yanks could do it, even with their weakened lineup.

I don't see any teams in the AL as being head and shoulders above the rest, although it does look to me like the White Sox may be a bit better than the competition because of their starting pitching.

The AL West is probably the weakest of the three divisions, but someone has to get a playoff spot from there.

So it would appear that the Yanks are battling Boston and Toronto for the top spot in the AL East, and/or Chicago, Boston, Toronto, Detroit, Cleveland, Ananheim, Texas, and Oakland for the wild card.

Nothing there that nobody didn't know, of course, but I don't see anything to be particularly optimistic about, given that the Yanks are battling two other teams for a division title, and six othr teams for one wild card spot.