Definitely a stretch, but Buster Olney speculates that the fact that LeBron James might possibly play in New York in two years will factor into CC Sabathia's decision on whether to join the Yankees. To be fair to Buster, it's not as if he came out and said that it would be the #1 factor, but it's somehow all tied into the fact that CC was happy to reunite with his buddy David Riske when he was traded to Milwaukee.

Sabathia developed a friendship, through his years in Cleveland, with LeBron James, as the two became the biggest stars in a small town. They have bopped around New York together in the past, and Friday the Knicks made trades that are being viewed as precursors to their pursuit, in another 20 months, of James.

Presumably, at some point, Sabathia and James have shared a conversation about living and playing in New York at the same time -- Sabathia for the Yankees, James for the Knicks. James, as the world famously learned in the playoffs of 2007, is a Yankees fan.

What does this all mean? It means that every other player waiting on CC to set the market has made for a pretty slow start to this offseason. I would guess that CC will be a Yankee, but if it comes down to friendships or something like that, I don't really see New York in his future. I'm not going to go write on a different blog because I feel like a friend might start writing there in two years.

I think if it came to something like that, he'd want to be closer to his hometown. But just how interested are the Angels really in pursuing CC Sabathia? I'm not sure why they would put that kind of emphasis on starting pitching when they already have such an abundance of it. I mean that would be kind of like the Yankees trading for the best shortstop in baseball when they already have Derek Je...oh, wait.