One by one, the Yankees will be dropping by the Stadium today and tomorrow, packing their belongings, heading home for the winter, trying to gain closure on the stunning, unthinkable -- virtually impossible -- end to the World Series.

	Has Tino Martinez played his final game in pinstripes? It's one of many questions facing the Yankees this offseason.

To truly heal, the Bombers will eventually need to forget what happened to Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning of Game 7 against Arizona. How, just two outs away from another world championship, not to mention his 24th consecutive save in postseason play, the game's best closer simply evaporated.

No doubt, it'll be weeks before the Yankee players let go of the images, but the front office has no such luxury. Less than 30 minutes after Luis Gonzalez's game-winning hit, general manager Brian Cashman said he was "going back to the drawing board" to return the Bombers to a state of dominance in 2002.

"If anything, (losing) makes us appreciate just how hard it is to get to the World Series," Cashman said. "We had a great run, but you have to tip your cap to the Diamondbacks. They beat us. They beat our best. We're going to work very hard to put the best possible team on the field next year."

That may or may not represent the starter's gun on a new wave of spending from George Steinbrenner. Yankee officials say no firm blueprint has been drawn -- yet. But the club has already identified several core issues that need to be addressed once the free agent auctions begin.

First and foremost is offense: The Yankees batted just .183, the lowest for any team playing a seven- or eight-game World Series, and were outscored, 37-14. In fact, the days of relying on Rivera to hide the lineup's deficits may finally be coming to an end, after the offense utterly collapsed against Arizona.

The Yankees batted just .167 (6-for-36) with runners in scoring position, and with the exception of Paul O'Neill and Alfonso Soriano, there were culprits everywhere.

Derek Jeter hit .148. Chuck Knoblauch was 1-for-18. Jorge Posada struck out once every three at-bats (8-of-24). Bernie Williams hit. 208.

Tino Martinez batted .190, but at least he contributed a crushing two-run, two-out homer in the ninth inning of Game 4 against closer Byung-Hyun Kim, and briefly tied Game 7 with an RBI single off Curt Schilling in the seventh inning.

Those critical at-bats could further complicate an already trying question for Yankee officials, who are weighing whether to re-sign Martinez as a free agent, or to pursue more expensive prey like Jason Giambi.

Referring to Martinez, one member of the organization said on Monday, "We've been going over that one for weeks. We have about five different plans of attack. Some of them include Tino, some don't. But George has been asking everyone, "What should we do about him?"

One obvious choice is to simply re-sign Martinez for, say, $10 million a year through 2004 -- although to do so would mean abandoning prospect Nick Johnson. Some scouts already project the rookie as a Gold Glove candidate, ready to hit at least 15-18 home runs next year if he gets 500 at-bats.

Another possibility is to sign Martinez to a two- or even one-year deal, nurturing Johnson along the way. However, it's highly unlikely Martinez would agree to those smaller horizons.

After leading the Yankees in home runs and RBI in 2001, Martinez will attract committed suitors from both leagues -- including the Mets, who are equally intent on upgrading their offense.

If Martinez does leave, the Yankees would turn their gaze toward Giambi, even if he'd cost them $15-$18 million a year. But as much as Giambi seemed to be attracted to New York's energy-level during the playoffs, the question is: Would he agree to serve strictly as the Bombers' DH?

It also remains to be seen whether Giambi actually wants to leave the A's.

"My feeling is Jason wants to stay here," Oakland general manager Billy Beane said recently. "He knows we have a good thing going. I don't think we have to necessarily out-spend the other teams to keep him. As long as we're competitive, I like our chances."

Without Martinez or Giambi, the Yankees would almost certainly take a closer look at Johnny Damon as a replacement for Knoblauch, or perhaps attempt to acquire Gary Sheffield in a trade. Despite his sometimes-volatile personality, the Dodgers' outfielder would be an obvious upgrade over Knoblauch and the retiring O'Neill.

And with his uncle, Dwight Gooden, now working in the Yankee front office, club officials believe they could keep Sheffield completely focused on the field.

Other items on the Yankees' to-do list include a decision on Orlando Hernandez, who is arbitration eligible in 2002. If the Yankees don't offer him a contract, there's a possibility they'd consider Chan Ho Park.

Scott Brosius lost much of his bat-speed last summer, but still has some residual value to the Yankees, considering rookie Drew Henson barely batted .200 at Class AAA Columbus.

Whether the Yankees make massive changes or simply fine-tune, their core will remain the same next year: The offense will center on Williams and Jeter and Posada, while Soriano will continue to develop.

The starting rotation still has Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina -- three reasons why the Yankees will still win more games than they'll lose in 2002.

And the bullpen will have a familiar face, too.

"No matter what happened (Sunday night) Mariano is going to come back from this," said Posada. "We're all going to have faith in him next year. He's going to be fine."

Bob Klapisch of The Record (Bergen County, N.J.) covers baseball for ESPN.com.