Sabathia the Reason the Yankees Didn't Trade for Santana

He coulda been a Yank if not for CC.

According to Murray Chass, Brian Cashman said that he didn't trade for Johan Santana because he knew that CC Sabathia would be on the market this off-season.

Uh, riiiiiight.

Color me skeptical, but this really seems convenient. Cashman didn't give this reason last season. Granted, he couldn't say that based on the rules, but counting on getting CC was a little risky, wasn't it?

Chass makes a great point that the difference between Santana-Sabathia would be about $40M over the six years (~$6M/year) from Sabathia-Burnett. Then again, the difference between Santana and Burnett is pretty huge. Santana is a couple years younger, left-handed, better, and more durable than Burnett. I'll go out on a limb and say that Santana's deal (though longer and more expensive) is a better bet than Burnett's based on the previous reasons. Now, I do understand that Hughes and/or Kennedy and the other prospects the Yankees held onto were a big part of not making the deal. Hughes could turn out to be great, and some of the other prospects mentioned as part of a possible deal were used to get Nady and Marte. But seriously, Santana and Sabathia could have been huge.

In the end, it's not worth talking about shoulda-woulda-coulda, but it just seems awfully convenient that Cashman can all of a sudden say Sabathia was the reason he didn't make the deal last season. Saying giving up those prospects was too much makes me respect the man, but making Sabathia the reason makes him seem arrogant and idiotic.