Brian Cashman To Meet CC, Ask If He's Received All the Flowers and Cards

By PATRICE EVANS

Updated 7:00 AM EST, Fri, Dec 5, 2008

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So all the kids at lunch were whispering about how little Brian Cashman is going to meet with free agent homecoming queen CC Sabathia. It's going to happen next week at the Winter Prom, err Meetings.

But considering the Yankees have already offered to give Sabathia all their love, and all their affection, and all the money in the world (which these days might actually be about $140M), this supposed "meeting" feels more like, I don't know, stalking.

Certainly it's always good to meet your potential employees in person, but this has long had the feel of an arranged marriage, ever since the Yankees opened up by offering a bajillion dollars-plus-one-to-infinity. So at this point what are the Yankees going to do? Tell CC they really really really really like him? Really really, with a CC-sized cherry on top? All they can do is accept the obvious conclusion that they are not his first choice, and hope the other suitors fail to impress with their meager offerings.

Which is why it's likely nothing will come of this meeting. Neither side has much to gain from setting any deadlines. On the Sabathia end, while it's clear he'd prefer to receive a similar offer from another team, in the current economic climate it may be he doesn't receive the assortment of $100+-million dollar offers that were anticipated. So he certainly wants to keep the Yankee top dollar option on the table.

As for the Yankees, they have more to lose by letting their love go unrequited for long, but they also made the unadulterated money offer for a reason. The big lefty will make or break their offseason plans.

For Jeter and the Pinstripers, it's sad that CC doesn't want to join the band as much as they want him to, and they would love to work on their alternatives should the mail-order relationship not come together, but they're also holding out for the pitcher of their dreams. They can swallow their pride should Sabathia's heart eventually come around to love the size of their wallet.

And so the merry-go-round of love and money goes on and on. Hopefully Cashman won't embarrass himself during his "seven minutes in heaven" by going in for the kiss too early.