NEW YORK -- Jeff Weaver may find himself in the New York Yankees' starting rotation this spring.

Yankees manager Joe Torre, interrupting his Hawaiian vacation for a day to attend Hideki Matsui's news conference, said figuring out how to deal with eight starting pitchers for five slots would be his biggest challenge when spring training opens Feb. 11.

Weaver, acquired from Detroit on July 6, made eight starts and seven relief appearances for the Yankees, filling in as pitchers ahead of him in the pecking order got hurt.

"I told him last year that in my mind he's going to be a starter for a long time on this ballclub, and I can't go back on that,'' Torre said Tuesday.

The Yankees head to spring training with Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina, David Wells, Jose Contreras, Orlando Hernandez, Sterling Hitchcock and Weaver competing for starting spots.

"It's going to be very difficult,'' Torre said. "I haven't a clue.''

New York is still in discussions with Montreal about acquiring Bartolo Colon from the Expos, but Hernandez and/or Hitchcock probably would go to the Expos as part of a trade. The Yankees spent Tuesday exploring three-way trades with Montreal, with some proposals involving Florida and some the Chicago White Sox. While the talks were ongoing, nothing was close, and in some combinations New York would pass Colon on to the third team in the deal.

In the meantime, Torre is trying to figure out how to get all his pitchers enough work once spring training games start Feb. 27. He brought up the crowded situation several times without being asked and already realizes some of the starters will have to pitch in relief during the exhibition season.

"The thing about starters in the bullpen is physically how will that work?'' Torre said. "You have to be careful, not just about pitching them, but about warming them up. They're not used to that.''

Keeping their prides and egos from getting hurt could be even tougher.

"You're not dealing with playing cards in the basement,'' Torre said. "You're dealing with people.''

Torre said he wasn't worried in November and December, when the Yankees said they were trying to lower spending because of their increased revenue sharing payments and baseball's new luxury tax.

"I know we're trying to cut payroll, but you always wind up with the highest payroll,'' he said. "George Steinbrenner wants to win.''

Steinbrenner, disappointed with the first-round playoff loss to Anaheim, said he expects more from start shortstop Derek Jeter and from Torre's staff. Torre didn't want to respond to that directly, but he made clear he's proud of the 2002 Yankees despite the postseason pitching collapse.

"We won 103 games,'' he said. "If we're going to slack off, we would have done it after we clinched the division. We just got beat. Sure, I'm disappointed. But I don't look back and say I would have done something different.''

Torre also is concerned about his crowded outfield, which currently appears to have Matsui in left, Bernie Williams in center and Raul Mondesi in right

New York is trying to trade Rondell White, who was hurt for most of last season, and Torre says "Juan Rivera proved he was a regular player.''

The Yankees head to spring training in Tampa, Fla., without an AL pennant for the first time since 1998, the year after losing to Cleveland in the first round. While they had the best record in the major leagues (103-58) during the regular season and scored the most runs (897), their starters had an 8.21 ERA in the playoffs -- the worst in any of their 57 postseason series going back to 1921, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

New York wasted leads in all three losses of the best-of-five series, and Anaheim's .376 average was the highest of any major league team in any postseason series.

"It was a terrible finish to a wonderful season,'' Torre said. "I'm not going to bash my team. We just didn't pitch very well.''

Steinbrenner's team hasn't won a World Series title since 2000, and Torre knows the pressure is mounting.

"As far as putting on the Yankee uniform, the mandate is always the same,'' he said. "Getting to the World Series is what we need to have happen.''