While the New York Yankees likely won’t get their answer as quickly as they’d like they are still the favorite to land free agent stud pitcher CC Sabathia, according to Sports Illustrated’s Jon Heyman.

Speaking on Dan Patrick’s morning radio show, Heyman told the world that CC still hopes one of the West coast teams will pop up with a competitive offer. He also thinks the Milwaukee Brewers might up their $100 million contract proposal as well.

But with the San Francisco Giants already opening their wallets to the tune of $18 million for a declining Edgar Renteria and also bogged down by the $126 million Barry Zito deal, Heyman thinks they are a long shot. And the California-Anaheim-Los Angeles Angels are first keeping Mark Teixeira in their sites.

CC’s reticence toward actually signing a deal, Heyman says, might have the Yankees on eggshells a bit, frustrated because they can’t lash out but don’t want to yet sweeten their own $140 million deal. But in the end, he says, the Bronx Bombers will likely get their man.

As an outside observer, it’s kind of fun to see them having to run in place for awhile though, isn’t it?