NEW YORK – While the Yankees will soon be determining how to keep Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez happy in each other’s air space, the Red Sox are still reliving their desperate 11th-hour attempt to keep the American League’s MVP from heading to the Bronx.

According to a major league executive, Boston’s hierarchy was so panicked by the growing momentum of the Yankees-Rangers trade, a personal phone call was placed to A-Rod on Friday night, asking him to halt the talks.

Rodriguez declined to get involved, only intensifying

Boston’s efforts. President Larry Lucchino then tried Rangers’ GM John Hart and finally climbed to the corporate peak, calling Texas owner

Tom Hicks, promising to agree to whatever demands the Rangers sought – as long as Rodriguez stayed away from the Yankees.

“(The Red Sox) basically said, “whatever it takes,” said the source. The plea fell on deaf ears, thanks to the residual bitterness that resulted from the failed A-Rod for Manny Ramirez trade in November. Hicks, who resented the Sox for their refusal to agree to the final $12 million in concessions that would’ve sent A-Rod to Fenway, got his revenge. He closed the deal with George Steinbrenner, agreeing to absorb an average of $5 million a year of Rodriguez’s salary.

Even though the Yankee payroll is currently at $195 million, Steinbrenner might not be finished with his shopping spree. Another major league source says the Yankees are moving closer to signing Greg Maddux, another client of super agent Scott Boras, putting the finishing touches on what The Boss could rightfully call the greatest Yankee team ever.

The coronation will begin Moday, when commissioner Bud Selig is expected to approve the Rodriguez-for-Alfonso Soriano swap, including all its financial ramifications. There will be a news conference at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday – carrying so much corporate juice, even Joe Torre has delayed his arrival at spring training.

Unveiling A-Rod will be the single-greatest personnel move since the Yankees signed Reggie Jackson for the 1977 season, although there’s no comparing their respective talents. Rodriguez is baseball’s best all-around hitter, and will finish his career as arguably the best shortstop of all time, including Honus Wagner.

Rodriguez is a human buffet table – a batting-champion-caliber contact hitter, a 40-home run threat, and a Gold Glove defensive star. He is smart, mature, easy to like, and so eager to play for a winner, ready to sacrifice his position to Jeter, who lacks Rodriguez’s power and range. Rodriguez’s deference to Jeter says plenty about his makeup, but it remains to be seen how he and Jeter will actually get along in the same clubhouse.

After all, Jeter is the Yankee captain, but he’s the one who must come to terms with the Bombers’ evolving landscape. Jeter is no longer their best hitter – not even their fourth-best hitter, actually. Even more significant, Jeter is no longer the Yankees’ richest and most polished star.

Despite his best efforts to appease Jeter, A-Rod will eventually become the face of the Yankees. He’ll be the team spokesman, their primary marketing tool, and the most successful businessman in the room. If Jeter is smart, he’ll be more than polite to A-Rod. He’ll publicly welcome him, just as Jason Giambi should, too. Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield will give the rest of the Yankees breathing room – which Giambi, in particular, needed in October.

Rodriguez’s friends believe he’ll have no trouble adjusting to third base, both on the field and in his head. He’s determined to stay there as long as Torre deems necessary, until the Yankees finally decide Jeter, a half-step slower and a year younger, should be the one who surrenders shortstop. Rodriguez will have no part of that debate, determined to further a blossoming friendship with Jeter.

The two Yankees, along with Marlins’ right-hander Josh Beckett, shot a promotional commercial for Major League Baseball this winter. It aired at the conclusion of the Super Bowl and showed all three playing a mock game of whiffle ball in Beckett’s home. It was a feel-good, TV moment for the sport and for Jeter and Rodriguez in particular – especially since the two had a much-heralded falling-out three years ago. That has changed, but the question is whether it’ll change again now that the two are teammates.

Chemistry has been the cornerstone of the Torre-era Yankees, but even if Jeter and A-Rod forge real peace, the clubhouse’s larger dynamic remains unresolved. That’s the surcharge for Steinbrenner’s assembly of a turbo-rotisserie team: the room is full of strangers.

Then again, Rodriguez’s charm is as substantial as Kevin Brown’s snarl, and if Sheffield has trouble controlling his temper, what better way to soften it than with another late-inning home run from Rodriguez. Or Jeter. Or Giambi.

Point is, winning is a manager’s best elixir.

It’ll mute the debate over who should play third base. It takes precedence over who’s better, who’s more famous, who’s more popular.

It’s hard to wage a turf war when you’re walking a straight path to October.