NEW YORK — Even before the Yankees lost the World Series last fall, George Steinbrenner was vowing to make major changes. Steinbrenner, the principal owner, poured still more cash into the team, and general manager Brian Cashman overhauled 60 percent of the roster. It did not work.

Steinbrenner, the man who said winning was second to breathing — second? — never expected to lose to the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series. There could have been no worse fate for the Yankees than that, except, perhaps, for the way the defeat played out: three victories followed by four losses, an unprecedented collapse in the history of postseason baseball.

So what now? Steinbrenner emphasized manager Joe Torre's role after losing Game 6, saying that the series was "in Joe Torre's hands."

It has been nearly a decade since Steinbrenner forced out a manager, but to do it now would mean to eat the $19.2 million he owes Torre through 2007.

Steinbrenner may be rash, but he understands Torre's power with the public. Steinbrenner knows that firing Torre, a certain Hall of Fame manager, would tarnish his legacy and leave Torre open to be hired by another team. It would seem highly unlikely.

Cashman may be more vulnerable. Last December, when Steinbrenner picked up Cashman's 2005 option worth more than $1 million, he did so in response to a newspaper article that said Cashman was miserable. Steinbrenner made the move without telling Cashman first.

That followed a year of Steinbrenner's antagonizing Cashman, who seemed to regain favor with his trade for Alex Rodriguez in February. But Steinbrenner shook up the staff at the team's training facility in Tampa, Fla., at various points this season, and he could shuffle the New York staff as well, making Cashman a scapegoat.

The Yankees suffered at the trading deadline because they did not have the prospects to land pitcher Randy Johnson from the Arizona Diamondbacks. They will enter this winter in the same predicament, with few — if any — young, inexpensive chips to deal.

Starter Javier Vazquez might draw interest, though he has three years left on a four-year, $45 million deal that seems well above market price. Center fielder Kenny Lofton will be a prime target to be traded, with one year left on his two-year, $6.2 million contract.