(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-10-12 09:48

NEW YORK - A third straight first-round exit in the playoffs could spell the end of manager Joe Torre's 12-year reign at the Yankees, with the futures of Alex Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada in the balance.

Monday's defeat by the Cleveland Indians ended the Yankees' season, leaving the team's fans and rival general managers waiting to discover the extent of the fallout.

Torre's future is uncertain, with Yankee owner George Steinbrenner having issued a 'win-or-else' ultimatum on Sunday.

Rodriguez, who hit 54 homers, drove in 156 runs and is favorite to win his third American League MVP award, can exercise an escape clause in his 10-year, $252 million contract.

The 32-year-old can opt out 10 days after the World Series, giving the Yankees a month's window in which to negotiate an extension and avoid a bidding war.

Posada, 36, who batted a career-high .338, and relief ace Rivera, who turns 38 next month, are already free agents.

They are sure to attract suitors among other well-heeled teams -- including the cross-town rival Mets.

That is not to say the Yankees, baseball's most successful franchise with 26 World Series titles and a current streak of 13 successive trips to the playoffs, have a bleak outlook.

"This ballclub, they have a great future," Torre told reporters in an emotional news conference after the defeat by the Indians.

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

"The young kids who came down the pike here, it's something different for the Yankees."

Torre was referring to young pitchers who revitalized the team this season -- starters Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain, who was converted into a reliever and was dominant as a set-up man for Rivera.

Yankee brass has insisted Chamberlain is a future ace starter, but if Rivera leaves there would be a temptation to use him as the closer.

If the Yankees feel short of pitching, they could pursue Minnesota Twins ace Johan Santana, twice winner of the American League Cy Young Award.

The small-market Twins are expected to entertain offers for Santana, who can be a free agent after next season.

New York was hurt in the playoffs by the performance of 19-game winner Wang Chien-ming, who was roughed up in the opener, and removed from Game Four without registering an out in the second inning.

Pitching coach Ron Guidry said the right-hander from China's Taiwan Province had to learn to make adjustments.

"But that's a learning experience," Guidry added. "He'll be better off for it as time goes on because he only has two and a half years in the big leagues.

"What's amazing about him is he's learning, but I don't know if anybody won as many games as him since he started," Guidry said about Wang, who also won 19 games in 2006.