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Report: Yankees Want New CC Sabathia Deal Before Opt-Out; Red Sox A Potential Suitor?

NEW YORK (WFAN/AP) -- It's fair to say Yankees fans don't want to see CC Sabathia pitching elsewhere next season.

Especially not with the Boston Red Sox.

Fear less, fans. It seems the Bombers have a plan: don't give the left-hander an opportunity to walk away.

"Their hope is to present Sabathia with an offer he is agreeable with before he opts out," a source told The New York Post.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, whose own contract could be finalized in the coming days, is chairing the organizational meetings that end Thursday in Tampa.

Sabathia is one player the organization can bring back with little evaluation necessary. The ace of a rotation in flux can opt out of his 7-year, $161 million contract by the third day after the end of the World Series.

Meanwhile, the New York Daily News speculated that the Red Sox, after losing John Lackey for the 2012 season, could make a play for Sabathia.

"What the ripple effect is, I have no idea," Cashman told the Daily News. "I've got no idea what the Red Sox business plan will be. They'll do whatever is in their best interests. We'll control what we can control. It's free agency - there are a lot of variables. It's the undiscovered country. I certainly couldn't predict."

The Post also reported Sabathia's agent originally insisted on the clause in case the lefty "didn't like pitching in New York."

But Sabathia moved his family to New Jersey, and he has repeatedly said he loves playing in the Big Apple.

"CC is going nowhere," a baseball executive told the Daily News. "He isn't leaving New York."

With the top free-agent pitchers this offseason being C.J. Wilson, Mark Buehrle, Edwin Jackson and Japan's Yu Darvish, the Yankees will likely give the 31-year-old Sabathia several additional years above the four years and $92 million that remains on his current contract.

The Yankees are fine with handing Sabathia a contract of up to six years, reported The Post, but anything more than that is iffy "because of age, workload," and the ace's ongoing weight issue.

Do you think Sabathia will leave or stay here in New York? Sound off in the comments below...

(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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