Oh, now the Yankees are just being silly

Captip to Citizen Andrew for pointing this out: The Yankees are apparently upset that they were not in on the Roy talks.

The New York Post's Joel Sherman:
There has been so much attention focused on the Yankees failing to get Cliff Lee last July and then again in the offseason that it is easy to forget that they dabbled with the idea of obtaining Dan Haren last July, as well, and offered some frustration that Houston never made them fully aware that Roy Oswalt was available. Perhaps the Yankees should have tried harder to obtain Haren and pushed harder to keep track of what was going on with Oswalt.

Are you kidding me? (And I don't mean Joel Sherman. He's a fine writer.) The Yankees weren't sure?

Yahoo's Tim Brown said on July 19 that the Yankees liked Roy, but not nearly as much as they liked Cliff Lee.

Jayson Stark said on July 23 that the Yankees were "lurking on the fringes" of the Roy talks.

Ken Rosenthal noted on July 24 that the Yankees were backing off on Roy, and pursuing Dan Haren instead. Later that day, Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi said the Yankees were scared of Roy's back problems.

On July 25, Jon Heyman said the Yankees weren't in on Roy, and were focusing on Dan Haren.

Nick Cafardo noted on July 25 that the Yankees weren't linked to Roy, but that an Astros official worried that New York was "too big time" for Roy, and that Roy was close to Pettitte - and that Clemens had told Roy how great New York is.

So either some of the best reporters in baseball were getting duped by the Media Relations Intern, or the Yankees are pissed at losing out to the Phillies on both Lee and Oswalt. Another case you could make is that the Astros weren't completely up front with the Yankees - but if the Yankees were so pissed about missing out on Roy, they may have taken a stronger stand about trading for Berkman hours after Philly completed the deal.

I've always thought that the Phillies' deal was the best deal available, because it makes no sense for Ed Wade to include such a large chunk of money to get it done. Nobody says, "Hell, I'll throw in millions, just because I can!" and then devolves into maniacal laughter.

It's the Yankees' fault for not making their desire clear, and it's the Yankees' arrogance for just assuming that they could buy whatever pitcher they wanted in the off-season.

It's certainly not Ed Wade's fault, for taking the best available deal.