Did Sabathia Turn Down the Yankees?

This out of San Fran from Andrew Baggarly's blog:

UPDATE: An executive close to the CC Sabathia talks told me the Brewers are emerging as the frontrunner.

It’s been confirmed to me that the Giants had discussions with CC Sabathia’s camp last night, and they expect to have face-to-face meetings with the left-hander in San Francisco after the winter meetings. It sure must’ve have been a productive discussion, because word is that Sabathia has declined the Yankees’ six-year, $140 million offer. (I must stress that’s unconfirmed, but talk is spreading fast. If true, look for the Yanks to get hyper-aggressive on A.J. Burnett.)

Thanks to Tom K from the Google Group for the link. There's one glaring fact here that doesn't make sense: there is no reason for Sabathia to take the Yankees offer off the table.  If he did, in fact, turn down the Yankees offer, the only reason could be to try and draw a higher offer from the Yankees. What makes this difficult to decipher is the fact that the Yankees are basically negotiating in a vacuum.  They will have the largest offer and everyone knows it, so the other teams have no reason to even consider the Yankees in their negotiations.  If Sabathia truly decides that he doesn't want to pitch in NY, that shouldn't have any effect on the other teams bidding. Regardless, it still doesn't make sense to take your biggest suitor off the table unless you're squeezing him for more money.  This may be a case where CC wants to see exactly how much the Yankees will give him and if that's enough to make NY worth while.

UPDATE 5:50 PM EST:

Ken Rosenthal follows up the CC rumor:

There is no truth to reports that CC Sabathia turned down the Yankees, according to two sources with knowledge of the discussions. It would make little sense for Sabathia to eliminate his highest bidder. It would also make little sense for the Yankees to pull out of the discussions when Sabathia is their principal free-agent target. The Yankees remain in the mix for Sabathia, along with the Angels, Giants, Red Sox and possibly the Dodgers.

Who to believe?  I would consider the Yankees still in it.  Whether CC has any desire to sign with them is a whole 'nother story...