Imagine a baseball season in which both Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams decided to retire. Oh, the humanity!

Well, this is a ballet season in which a version of such a calamity is happening. Peter Boal and Jock Soto will both retire at the end of this season; their farewell performances are June 5 and 19, respectively. Mr. Boal is a masterful artist, known for finesse, judicious placement, and gentlemanly character. Mr. Soto is a partner par excellence, with a hauntingly spare and elegant style. Both have been with the company since the 1980s and have made themselves indispensable.

For City Ballet watchers, the question now is: Who will step into their slippers? Just as a baseball team has starting players, a ballet company has principals who are of equal status and perform very different functions. To some degree, everybody has their own turf. Male principals like Charles Askegard, Benjamin Millepied, and Damian Woetzel will continue doing what they do absent Mssrs. Boal or Soto. Just as Hideki Matsui (my favorite Yankee) would if Jorge Posada retired.

But when dancers (or players) leave, the deck does get reshuffled. So here’s a look at who might be getting more stage time.

JOAQUIN DE LUZ Mr. Boal’s departure leaves room for a classicist with individuality, a gentleman dancer of dignity and ease. Mr. De Luz is the principal who most possesses these qualities and resembles Mr. Boal in physique. (Though Mr. De Luz appears to be a bit shorter.) But Mr. De Luz is a recent arrival; in 2003 he came to City Ballet from American Ballet Theater and was made a principal in January. He doesn’t yet have the repertory know-how. Which leads us to …

ALBERT EVANS Mr. Evans has excellent command of the Stravinsky-Balanchine oeuvre. And it’s been a mystery at times why he isn’t cast more often. His partnering is sometimes cause for nervousness. But on the whole, the silver lining of Mr. Boal’s farewell may be a greater presence for this veteran.

Consider also that with Mr. Boal out, there are only two men in the company who dance “Apollo”: Nikolaj Hubbe and Nilas Martins. If the goal is to have three who can handle this seminal role, Mssrs. Luz or Evans are solid candidates.

STEPHEN HANNA Here’s a young man with solid partnering skills and a vibrant stage presence. Promoted to principal in January, Mr. Hanna is strong, dramatic, and fun to watch; and he really throws everything into his performances. But he can go overboard, smiling and wagging his head a lot. Still, he told me in an interview that he is an admirer of Mr. Soto – an excellent role model. If he can channel that energy into something sophisticated, he could really give us something fresh.

JARED ANGLE The elusive Mr. Angle, a soloist, has been on and off stage due to injuries, but when he’s on, he has a comforting, reassuring presence. He’s of medium height, strong build, and clear masculinity. He is a dancer with taste, but does he have the creativity to be “Apollo”? We’ll see. A careful and attentive partner, this might allow him to step into some of Mr. Soto’s roles. What he needs is an injury-free season to show off a bit.

DANIEL ULBRICHT Promoted to soloist in January, Mr. Ulbricht is a powerful jumper and a mega-watt stage presence. He’s used often in the bouncy roles that need showmanship. But he’s so wonderfully masculine, it would be interesting to see him as more than an applause machine.

ADAM HENDRICKSON This versatile soloist is a wild card. He has been cast in several dramatic character parts and high-flying roles, and he has also been tapped for several new works. He doesn’t quite have the polish for “Apollo,” but he may be a solid “utility infielder.”

CRAIG HALL, ASK LA COUR, ANDREW VEYETTE These men are all still in the corps de ballet, but when they come forward for a soloist role, they have a spark to them. They’re all worth keeping an eye on.

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Gerard A. Mortier, director of the Paris National Opera, gave a brief but brilliant lecture last week, presented by the Alliance for the Arts and Time Warner. A charming and intellectually honest arts administrator, Mr. Mortier has overseen the national opera and ballet companies since he took the post of director in July 2004.

Mr. Mortier’s English was very good but difficult to quote directly, so I will paraphrase some of his remarks.

Explaining why he took the job, he said that for him, song and dance are the most original forms of human expression: Both came before the written word and are natural to the human experience. And if you doubt that theater (any form) is a natural and important element of humanity, look at children, who are always eager to dress up in costume.

On the subject of developing younger audiences for opera, Mr. Mortier suggested that parents should take children who are between the ages of 8 and 12. But by 13, “they want to do what they want to do.” He detailed his outreach efforts, and he pointed out that opera is such a potent art form that audiences are typically very diverse in age: “Different generations can meet at the opera.”

Most impressive in his speech was his ability to deflate a question (which was, of course, really a statement) from a self-deprecating American who felt that the Bush administration was ruining artistic culture. Mr. Mortier’s answer was, basically, to be less pessimistic. America is full of artists, many of whom he presents in Paris. And though the French government does give money to the arts, it’s not a perfect system.

Of interest to opera fans will be his response to the question of how he would run the Met if asked. He couldn’t, he said, and deferred further by saying he didn’t know how to sell a house with more than 4,000 seats every night. American audiences are more naive, in that more of the audience is attending a performance for the first time. And ultimately, he claimed, the job needs to go to an American.

So maybe he won’t be coming here, but he is an earnest and endearing figure. He told the audience that every hour of every day, he is devoted to the arts. Such a statement could sound ludicrously pretentious coming from someone else. But from Mr. Mortier, it sounded like an honest confession.

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The Bolshoi Ballet is coming to New York City July 18 until 30.The Moscow-based company will present four full-length ballets at the Metropolitan Opera House: “Don Quixote” (July 18 & 21),”Spartacus” (July 22 & 23),The Pharoah’s Daughter” (July 28, 29, & 30), and “The Bright Stream” (July 25, 26, & 27).

The later two ballets have never been presented before in North America. “The Bright Stream” is a reminder of the dark days of Soviet rule. This comic 1936 ballet is set on a collective farm, but the work was suppressed because it was deemed an inaccurate representation of reality. “The Pharaoh’s Daughter” is a Petipa creation from 1862 that tells of a young Englishman who hopes to marry (guess who?) the Pharaoh’s daughter. With music by Cesare Pugni, it is a full-blown romantic ballet.

Tickets are available now at the Metropolitan Box Office (212-362-6000) and online atwww.metopera.org.