The Associated Press

NEW YORK - Roger Clemens is retiring. Jason Giambi needs knee surgery. Andy Pettitte is a free agent.

Dugout coach Don Zimmer quit. Again. Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre is thinking about it. Hitting coach Rick Down is a dead man walking.

Owner George Steinbrennner is not happy.

Welcome to a New York Yankees' winter.

"There's no doubt about it. There will be some changes, for sure," Pettitte said minutes after the Yankees lost the World Series to Florida. "Right now, I'm just sick to my stomach. I'm really not even thinking about all that."

Be sure that one man has been thinking about it plenty. Steinbrenner's payroll for the 2003 Yankees crept to a surreal $183 million, and his sparring with manager Joe Torre and his staff during the season casts a sullen mood throughout the franchise. Steinbrenner has pledged Torre's job is safe, but general manager Brian Cashman, who has a year remaining on his contract, might not make it through the winter.

"I have a lot of pride in what we did, but obviously disappointment in the end," Cashman said. "The stakes are higher here in New York."

What do the Yankees do? They used 49 players this year, Cashman making an amazing 12 trades between June 6 and Aug. 31. He assembled a team that was able to win a sixth straight division title but couldn't hit in the clutch against Florida.

The Yankees went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position in the 2-0 Game 6 loss to Josh Beckett and hit .140 (7-for-50) in RBI situations for the Series. With the bases loaded, they went 0-for-6. That described Down's plight, and Stottlemyre's future is in doubt.

"After everything is over, then I think we can reflect and look back and see what it's going to look like next year and if they are going to come back," Torre said.

Financially, the Yankees are deep into long-term contracts. Including Derek Jeter (seven more years worth a total of $135 million), Giambi (five years, $81 million), Mike Mussina (three years, $48 million) and Bernie Williams (two years, $24 million), New York is tied into 10 multiyear deals worth nearly $375 million.

Unreliable Jeff Weaver is owed $15.5 million over the next two years and certain to be on the trading block. Wells, who at 41 may need another back operation, has a $6 million option for 2004 that the team is not expected to exercise. Aaron Boone, except for the home run that eliminated the Red Sox, did little to make management think he's the answer at third base.

Giambi, who hit a career-low .250 with a career-high 140 strikeouts, will undergo arthroscopic surgery to relieve chronic tendon inflammation in his left knee. A similar condition eventually forced Mark McGwire to retire.

"You know if you win, it's a matter of, 'We can't let down,' " Torre said. "There's always that pressure and it's nothing you don't expect or don't understand why it happens. Last year, he wasn't very happy."

He surely isn't any happier now.