Some athletes just make you want to puke. They sign for the most money, then they say it’s all about winning.

Here’s the latest from C.C. Sabathia.

Ten minutes after New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman left the home of CC Sabathia last week, Sabathia phoned Cashman.

“I’m all-in,” he said.

With those words, Sabathia committed to a seven-year, $161 million deal with the Yankees, a record amount for a pitcher.

“I think this is the best place for me to try to win a championship,” Sabathia said Thursday, on his way to the news conference where he was formally introduced, along with right-hander A.J. Burnett. “Everybody had speculated about me staying in California. I had always talked about winning a championship, and you look at the Yankees, it’s something they contend for just about every year.”

Hey hot shot – your quote would make sense ONLY if you took less money to play for a contender. Every team that was bidding for your services was a big market team that should compete every year. You went to the highest bidder, but you’re not man enough to come out and admit it. Instead, you tell Cleveland fans how much you love the team and the city, and then you pull the same act in Milwaukee. At least the Indians were smart enough to dump your huge ass and pick up some prospects – they didn’t buy your BS.

You had some big chances to win a championship, but you wilted in the playoffs in 2007. If you had done your job, the Indians would have pulled it out against the Red Sox for the opportunity to roll he Rockies in the World Series.

Now we’ll see how you handle the pressure of playing in New York. Maybe A-Rod can give you some advice.

The bidding war for free agent pitcher CC Sabathia has begun.

The Milwaukee Brewers have opened up the bidding for free agent ace Milwaukee Brewers have opened up the bidding for free-agent ace CC Sabathia.

Brewers general manager Doug Melvin said Monday that the team made a contract proposal to Sabathia over the weekend but wasn’t willing to discuss terms of the offer or assess the team’s chances of keeping its prize pitcher.

“It’s in their hands,” Melvin said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “He hasn’t really had a chance to talk with other teams.”

Sabathia, who went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA for Milwaukee after he was traded from the Cleveland Indians on July 7, filed for free agency over the weekend and is expected to draw interest from big-market teams who could outbid the Brewers. His new deal could top Johan Santana’s $137.5 million, six-year contract with the New York Mets.

This is obviously only the beginning. Sabathia will still likely draw offers from the New York Yankees and perhaps the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are in great need of a front-of-the-rotation starter. Sabathia has often said that he wants to hit, which would mean he’d eventually settle with a National League team. Money talks, however, and one has to believe that the Yankees are going to come with a substantial offer.

The Milwaukee-Journal Sentinel is reporting that the Brewers will name Ken Macha as their new manager.

The Brewers are expected to announce Ken Macha as their new manager as soon as possible after the World Series concludes. And they might need a new pitching coach to go with him.

The interesting question for the Brewers obviously, is whether or not they’ll retain CC Sabathia. The ace has made it known that he would love to stay in the National League so that he would have the opportunity to hit, and he did have a great deal of success in Milwaukee. But as always, money talks. And you know the Yankees do a lot of talking.

With his club fading fast, Hank Steinbrenner decided to turn his attention to offseason spending. Steinbrenner recently told Newsday that the Yankees will target pitchers CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett in the offseason.

“Everybody’s looking at Sabathia and Burnett, not just us,” Steinbrenner said during Thursday’s game against the Red Sox. “We’ll see. The main concern is, are their arms going to be OK after this season?”

Once again, Steinbrenner predicted a flurry of offseason activity to make improvements to a Yankees team that may miss the postseason for the first time in other than strike years since 1993.

“It’s very frustrating. We haven’t given up on this year, but we’re definitely going to be better next year,” Steinbrenner said. “That I can promise.”

I doubt Sabathia will return to the AL. He’s mopping up in the NL and has already stated that he likes to hit. But money talks, so it’ll be interesting to see how much the Yanks throw at the Brewers’ ace.

It’s funny how teams would have rather burned their stadiums down than trade for Burnett at the deadline, but now (according to Steinbrenner at least) everybody is interested.