MILWAUKEE -- The New York Yankees reportedly offered free agent left-hander CC Sabathia the biggest pitching contract in major-league history Friday, which drew a somewhat puzzled response from Milwaukee Brewers general manager Doug Melvin.
"It sounds like they're overbidding," Melvin said. "If the speculation is true that we've offered CC $100 million, why would you offer $140 million? Why wouldn't you offer $110 million?"
The answer to that question, according to reports out of New York, is that the Yankees are trying to "blow away" Sabathia with an offer he can't refuse. The New York Daily News, citing "industry sources," reported that the Yankees made an initial bid of $140 million for six years.
That offer would exceed the current top pitching contract of $137.5 million for six years given Johan Santana by the New York Mets last winter.
Melvin has not confirmed the Brewers' offer of $100 million for five years, revealed by a baseball official to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel a couple of weeks ago. Assuming the report is true that the Yankees offered Sabathia $140 million over six years, Melvin was asked if the Brewers could compete with that figure.
"I don't want to respond to that," Melvin said. "It's up to the player to go where the money is.
"(The Yankees) have been pretty adamant about bidding on everybody. That doesn't mean that's what the market is. That's just one team's offer. Until all the bids are on the table, I don't know what the market is."
Melvin said he would ask Sabathia's representatives by the middle of next week to tell him where the Brewers are in the bidding and if further negotiations make sense. If he has no chance of keeping Sabathia, who pitched the Brewers to the playoffs for the first time in 26 years after being acquired from Cleveland in early July, Melvin wants to move on and look for another starting pitcher.
"I'll ask them where we're at (in the bidding), if we have a chance or should we move on," Melvin said. "I need to know. We don't want this to drag on.
"They won't tell me what the other offers are. They'll just say, 'We've got an extra year (from another bidder) or more money.' They'll let you know if the other offers are substantially more or a little more.
"We're not going to negotiate until we know where we stand."
There have been reports that the New York Mets, Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers are expected to join the bidding for Sabathia. All of those teams have payrolls substantially higher than the Brewers, who are not expected to exceed $90 million in player salaries in 2009.
The Yankees, who had a payroll of $209 million last season, had more than $80 million come off the books and have indicated they will make every effort to sign Sabathia and perhaps another big-name free-agent pitcher or two.
