Livestrong will need to find a new way to present itself to the world without Armstrong as its face, said Eric Martin, a partner with Boost Partners, a Richmond, Virginia, strategic consulting firm.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Nick Swisher, Raul Ibanez, Russell Martin and Eric Chavez left to sign elsewhere.

NPR: Alex Rodriguez Calls Return 'A Great Challenge'

New York hit a team-record 245 homers last year but Nick Swisher, Raul Ibanez, Russell Martin and Eric Chavez left as free agents, and Alex Rodriguez and Curtis Granderson will start the season on the disabled list.

WSJ: Gardner has 3-run triple in Yankees' loss

The Obamas spend much of their social time with two African-American couples very much like themselves: Eric and Cheryl Whitaker and Martin Nesbitt and Anita Blanchard.

NEWYORKER: State of the Union

So are Russell Martin, Raul Ibanez, Eric Chavez and Rafael Soriano.

WSJ: Yankees hope aged team is team for the ages

What began with the eyebrow-raising departure of catcher Russell Martin for Pittsburgh continued with Eric Chavez' jump to the Arizona Diamondbacks, then the news that second-tier Yankee targets Jeff Keppinger and Nate Schierholtz had quickly signed elsewhere.

WSJ: Swisher, Ibanez Are Latest Yankees to Flee

Postseason star Raul Ibanez left, as did starting catcher Russell Martin, popular right fielder Nick Swisher and valuable Eric Chavez.

WSJ: Ailing Yankees creak toward opening day

And he believes that the three-times former league champions, graced in the past by names like Mal Aspey, Eric Hughes, Mick Burke and the Myler family, and by Martin Offiah, Joe Lydon, Andy Gregory and Jonathan Davies in their great days of the late 1980s, can go on to reprise former glories.

BBC: O'Connor buoyant over Widnes Vikings' Super League bid

Normally, it would be easy to dismiss all this as an early-season fluke, but there is a pattern here: trading for Nick Swisher in late 2008, trading for Kerry Wood in mid-2010, signing Russell Martin and Freddy Garcia before 2011, signing Raul Ibanez and re-signing Eric Chavez in early 2012, trading for Ichiro Suzuki in mid-2012.

WSJ: Yankees Become Savvy Shoppers