The CC Watch... Latest: Who knows?

[PrinceEatMeat]

My gut feeling is that CC will just forget about the Yankees in hopes of getting a decent offer from out West. The Brewers may have a better shot now though. At least we can hope to get an early X-mas present. Am I right?

[crewcrazy]

This type of arbitrary deadline is the reason the Yankees don't have Johan Santana right now. At the same time, it's understandable -- the Yankees have more than one rotation spot to fill, as well as holes at first base and centerfield. Even the Yankees can't wait around forever to hammer out details while teams like the Red Sox are in the bidding for A.J. Burnett.

[liveforoctober]

This could become interesting in a little bit...

 

If CC stands pat about waiting until all offers are on the table... and the Red Sox can swing a deal right now for Burnett. I could see the Yankees panicking at the thought of losing all 3 of the top FA pitchers and pulling their offer to rush and sign Derek Lowe. Hopefully that would sour CC towards New York and the highest bidder may be out of the race...

 

Just a thought.

[PrinceEatMeat]

I think this deadline alone could sour CC on the Yankees. I understand the fact that they also covet Burnett and Lowe, but this is a huge decision for CC, probably the biggest one of his life. I don't see any respect in rushing a guy into decision like that, especially a guy like CC. If I am the Yankees, I would do anything and everything to get CC to New York. Lowe and Burnett would definitely take a far backseat at this point for me.

[GoudaBrew]

I'm not getting my hopes up. CC wants 3 things as I see it:

 

1. To be close to home (west coast)

2. To play in the NL

3. The most money and years he can get while obtaining the top 2

 

We can only offer 1 of those things.

 

While the Yanks will no doubt have the highest bid, the Dodgers/Giants/Angels bids will be plenty high for CC to take one of those. I would put money on CC landing in LA as a Dodger

[endaround]

The Yankees have as much money coming off their books as the Brewers have payroll (with the Dodgers not far behind). Signing Derek Lowe won't change anything.

[Oldcity]

Exactly. Signing anyone else won't change anything, so why even bother with some arbitrary deadline? I don't see the logic.

[PrinceEatMeat]

Agreed, if anyone should have a deadline it is the Brewers. Signing CC affects the rest of our offseason. The Yankees can offer Burnett and Lowe as much as they want, and still easily be able to sign CC. That's why I don't get why they are in such a rush. The only guess I have is that Burnett and/or Lowe want CC on the Yankees before they decide to sign with them. They may see a different team as more appealing unless CC signs there.

[Invader3K]

They were discussing this on MLB on XM just about an hour ago. I'm not sure who was actually discussing it (they've shuffled their lineup of shows a lot lately), but they basically characterized it as the Steinbrenners trying to throw their weight around, and basically trying to tell Sabathia that "Yeah, you can have all this money, but it's on our terms." If that's the way the message was received, then I really doubt Sabathia is going to end up a Yankee.

 

They did discuss the Brewers possibly retaining him, and said there is a chance, but probably not a strong one. Not much we didn't already know, but good to see some national media at least saying there is a chance he'll be back in Milwaukee.

[MickeyDavis]

I think Hank assumed CC would just immediately jump at their offer and now that he hasn't Hank is a little ticked off. Hence the "deadline".

[Invader3K]

Well, it might not be much of a deadline if no date has been announced.

 

I do think the Yankees probably guessed they'd have him signed by now, or at least the negotiations would be further along.

[PrinceEatMeat]

As of right now, there are two teams in the bidding for CC. The Brewers and the Yankees. That decision doesn't seem terribly hard to me based on the offers. CC is obviously waiting until at least one, if not all, of the California teams give him an offer. If any of them get remotely close to what the Yankees offered, he will sign immediately.

[YanksFan]

I think Hank assumed CC would just immediately jump at their offer and now that he hasn't Hank is a little ticked off. Hence the "deadline".

I doubt it. This was the Yankees FIRST offer. They understood from the beginning this was not going to be easy. CC and his agent both know that this is the Yankees first offer and also understand that given the Yankees interest, they are willing to go higher. Why jump on this when you know you can make more? Remember, we are still very early in the offseason.

 

The "deadline" means nothing and really is a non story. Most likely, Hal (not Hank) was asked about it and he answered the question.

[1992casey]

We see examples of deadlines being meaningless all the time. A common example is the "I'm not going to talk contract during the season" situation, with the contract ending up being signed about May 1st. I wouldn't read too much into this so-called "deadline," either.

[brewcrewkid14]

The longer this plays out with no result, the worse off it is for the Brewers in all sorts of ways. After all of this, he's going to end up with New York.

[Marc Newfield of Dreams]

The longer this plays out with no result, the worse off it is for the Brewers in all sorts of ways. After all of this, he's going to end up with New York.

I kind of take the opposite view. The longer CC goes without telling Doug "no" tells me he's still thinking about Milwaukee. I'll put it this way, if it were only about the money, CC would have let them know by now. It is interesting though that the FA market is hanging on what kind of contract CC gets.

[Team Canada]

I agree with Marc, if CC for sure wasn't coming back to Milwaukee, I would assume he would have informed them immediately that their offer wasn't going to cut it. I'm still surprised we're still waiting for other offers to come in - one of the LA teams has to be interested..

[GAME05]

i don't see any strategy in which saying no to Milwaukee soon would benefit CC.

[Invader3K]

I guess it's just frustrating to me to read that Doug Melvin and CC's camp have apparently had very little communication. I thought this past week we would have heard more definitive details by now.

[nate82]

I guess it's just frustrating to me to read that Doug Melvin and CC's camp have apparently had very little communication. I thought this past week we would have heard more definitive details by now.

You can blame Boras for this. Both of Boras's clients are connected to teams on the west coast with Teixeira and Manny. The Dodgers #1 priority is Manny and the Angels #1 priority is Teixeira. CC is waiting for both the Angels and Dodgers to give him an offer. This is what Melvin is waiting for. I doubt Melvin knows anything about CC and his contract situation before Boras starts talking with the Dodgers about Manny.

 

Right now Melving is being held hostage by this situation. We may not know anything about if CC is going to be staying or leaving untill early or mid December.

[Invader3K]

Well...you are correct that both of those teams are looking at other areas right now. I just don't think Melvin can wait until even early December to find out if CC is going to come back or not. Too much of his potential budget is going to be tied to whether or not CC is coming back.

[TooLiveBrew]

If the Dodgers seriously prioritize Ramirez over Sabathia, I'm at a loss for words. Except one: COLLETTI!

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

So they're connecting Sabathia signing in New York because Lebron James is going there in 2 years? Boy they really try to find stuff to write about in the baseball world these days.

[Invader3K]

Well, there's not too much else to talk about right now, so can't blame them too much for reaching. I really cannot believe the fact that CC has a friend who MAY play basketball in New York after this season would really factor into his decision that much. I mean, they are pro athletes making millions of dollars each...if they really want to hang out and have the time, they can just fly in to visit each other.

[crewcrazy]

We see examples of deadlines being meaningless all the time. A common example is the "I'm not going to talk contract during the season" situation, with the contract ending up being signed about May 1st. I wouldn't read too much into this so-called "deadline," either.

The Yankees also have a history of blowing smoke with deadlines and ultimatums like these. They told Alex Rodriguez last year that they would refuse to negotiate with him if he opted out of his contract, he did anyway, and the Yankees gave him even more money. I think it's just the Steinbrenners' way of appeasing the New York media -- you can't stay quiet on stuff like this when you're operating in New York. In Milwaukee, Melvin tells Haudricourt "nothing going on today" and Haudricourt says "OK, cool." In New York, Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman could say "nothing going on today" and instantly have the Daily News, Post, Times, and Newsday all spouting off about how the Yankees aren't trying very hard to land him. Deadlines and ultimatums are just their way of appeasing the media, and giving them something to write about (there are cases where the threats are legitimate, but with the Yankees it doesn't seem to happen very often).