Cash won't lose No. 1 pick to sign Soriano

The Yankees don't have a crying need for a setup reliever, even with Kerry Wood having returned to the Cubs. Yet with Cliff Lee a Phillie and Andy Pettitte still not back, they sure could be better, and Rafael Soriano represents the best potential fit of the remaining free agents.

But Soriano comes at a high price, and not just in terms of dollars. It's a price that Brian Cashman insists he won't pay.

"I will not lose our number one draft pick," the Yankees' general manager told the Journal News of Westchester. "I would have for Cliff Lee. I won't lose our number one draft pick for anyone else."

Soriano, who performed brilliantly as the Rays' closer in 2010, is classified as a Type A free agent. Because Tampa Bay offered him arbitration and he turned it down, the team with which he signs must give a high draft pick to the Rays.

In the Yankees' case, it would be their first pick, 31st overall in what is considered an excellent amateur draft.

Soriano pitched well enough last year that Joe Girardi was prepared to use him as his closer for the American League in the All-Star Game, which Mariano Rivera missed with an oblique injury. But Soriano's agent, Scott Boras, has expressed the righthander's willingness to set up for Rivera.

Reliever Grant Balfour, also a Ray in 2010, and former Yankee Carl Pavano are the other two remaining Type A free agents who turned down arbitration. Pavano, a disaster for the Yankees from 2005 through 2008, is in serious negotiations with Minnesota. Balfour doesn't interest the Yankees.

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Pettitte, meanwhile, told the New York Post on Thursday that he hasn't yet decided whether he'll pitch in 2011.