Ring Index (RI) is a simple formula: Rings Won / Years of Experience. A player with 0 rings is simply given a negative number for the amount of years he's been in the league. For example, A-Rod has had a shot at a World Series for 10 seasons (we have to take out the strike year of 1994 since there was no World Series), but has never won a ring. So his Ring Index is a putrid -10.

Obviously, winning is all we care about here in New York. So using my new innovative statistic, I'm going to review the past moves of this Yankees team and point out what moves were good, and which moves were bad. Lets start with the position players.

When Scott Brosius retired after 2001, the Yankees had some big shoes to fill. I mean, how many third basemen can boast a Ring Index of .300? They went about filling this hole in the wrong way, which led to disaster. They acquired Robin Ventura to play third, a guy with a horrid Ring Index of -12 at the time (he would eventually retire after the 2004 season with a career RI of -15). To make matters even worse, the guy they traded to acquire Ventura was David Justice, who was the proud owner of a career .167 RI. To this day, the position has not been adequately filled. Aaron Boone (-7) manned the hot corner for half a year and the position now belongs to the aforementioned Rodriguez, who possesses a pathetic -10 RI rating for his career. Clearly, the absense of Brosius has had a huge negative impact on the [lack of] winning ways in the Bronx in recent years.

The Yankees created a huge hole at 2B in 2001 when they shifted Chuck Knoblauch to LF. They said it was because of his defense, as Knoblauch embarrassingly threw away every ball that came to him. To this day, it still shocks me that the Yankees front office was this ignorant. After all, Knoblauch's RI up to the 2001 season was .444, off the charts! You know the saying: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". The Yankees filled the position with scrubs like Alfonso Soriano (-6) and Miguel Cairo (-9) before finally plugging the hole successfully with their 2005 addition of Tony Womack. Womack's career RI is .100 - not spectacular, but a huge step up for the Yankees of previous years. Now that Womack has been shifted to the outfield, Robinson Cano is the Yankees second baseman. The only known flaw of RI is that we cannot accurately assess rookies due to their lack of experience. Only time will tell if Cano is the answer at 2B or not.

The Yankee outfield is somewhat of a mixed bag. Joe Torre's refusal this season to permanently remove Bernie Williams from Center Field has been huge; despite the fact that he runs after flyballs as if Rosie O'Donnell is tied to his legs, his career RI is an outstanding .308. Womack's .100 and Gary Sheffield's .071 wouldn't be passable for your average corner outfielders, but as long as these guys have Bernie Williams standing inbetween them, the Yankee OF is remarkable. One major point of debate when formulating the RI equation was the following: should Hideki Matsui's rings with the Yomiuri Giants count toward his RI? After all, his presence on Yomiuri's teams was certainly a positive one, but when it came right down to it, how could I allow what Godzilla has accomplished in a different league and a different country to translate into the Major Leagues? I can't. Hence, Matsui has a -2 RI, and the Yankees are best with an outfield of Womack/Bernie/Sheffield, with Matsui on the bench until he proves that he can win in the United States.

Lord of the Rings

The long-time Yankee position players SS Derek Jeter (.400) and C Jorge Posada (.500) are by far the 2 best players in baseball. The return of Tino Martinez (.333) was a God-send, but only if Torre consistently plays him over scrubs like former MVP Jason Giambi (-10).

Now on to the pitching staff. My biggest gripe: what is Mike Mussina still doing on this team, or even in this league for that matter? A -13 Ring Index? Who the hell does this guy think he is, Pud Galvin? Kevin Brown's RI of .066 isn't anything to crow about, but compared to Mike Mussina, he looks like Hideki Irabu! The Yankees made a so-so pick up in Randy Johnson (.071), but hit a homerun when they landed Carl Pavano (.143) from Florida. On the surface, Jaret Wright (-8) looked like a lousy addition, but dig a little deeper: his Cleveland Indians brought the World Series into extra innings of game 7 in 1997. Had they been able to pull it off, Wright's RI would have seen a dramatic increase to .125. In the bullpen, Mariano Rivera shines as the greatest closer of all-time. Not because of his 190 ERA+, because of his .400 RI, stupid! The Yankees will feel the effects of their other moves in the bullpen, however. Cutting Mike Stanton (.308) was a monumentally stupid move. And Rivera is surrounded by bums like Tom Gordon, who Flashes nothing but a -14 RI, and Tanyon Sturtze, who sports a -7.