Who would you rather have in pinstripes – CC or Manny?

Viva Las Vegas! As MLB descends on Sin City for the Winter Meetings, Brian Cashman has been attempting to woo free agent pitcher CC Sabathia. They reportedly met this weekend, three weeks after the Yanks first attempted to blow him away with that staggering six-year, $140 million contract offer.

Should we be concerned that it’s taken so long to meet with CC? I say yes. As another GM put it in a New York Times article the other day:

“If they went to Sabathia with $140 million, he could go back to them and say, ‘Give me $170 million and I’m there,'” said one major league general manager, who was granted anonymity so he could freely discuss another team’s plans. “He hasn’t done that. The Yankees aren’t his first choice. Why isn’t he jumping on their offer?”

I’m glad Cashman is meeting with Sabathia, and I won’t fault the GM if the Bombers fail to sign CC. The Yanks’ offer, which would make him the highest-paid pitcher of all time, is more than fair.

That being said, if CC is reluctant to be a Yankee for non-monetary reasons, I don’t know if it’s such a great idea to try to talk him into it. The last pitcher the Yanks had to do that sort of convincing with was Randy Johnson, and that didn’t exactly work out too well.

So what’s Plan B if CC doesn’t want to wear NY on his cap? It’s possible the Yanks will spend money upgrading the bats – Mark Teixeira is considered an option. Today’s Ken Davidoff column in Newsday suggests another option – Manny Ramirez!

Here’s what I want to know from our readers – who would you most rather see the Yanks spend their free agent money on? Is it CC, Manny, or Mark? Or maybe Derek Lowe, A.J. Burnett, or some other option?

As for my own opinion, my first choice would be for the Yanks to go back in a time machine to a year ago and swoop up Johan Santana. But since time travel isn’t an option, I’d most rather see the Bombers spend the money on Sabathia, but only if he really wants to be a Yankee. If he doesn’t, the Yanks should say C-ya to CC.

In other news, I have signed up for Facebook, and will be setting up a Subway Squawkers page in the near future. In the meantime, shoot me an email at [email protected] if you’d like to be my Facebook friend.

Coming soon – an announcement of the winners in the A&E Essential Games giveway. But in thee meantime, tell us who you think the Yanks should sign. Leave us a comment!