Are the Indians Trying to Sign Sabathia?

Things have finally bottomed out in Cleveland. Thanks to the Royals dominance over the National League these last few weeks (a record of 12-3) and the continued struggles of the Tribe, even against the NL where most AL teams have been thriving, the Indians now find themselves in last place.

With every day that passes, the hope that the Indians might turn things around and get back to the top of the division where they were expected to be dwindles a bit more. A trade of C.C. Sabathia before the deadline becomes more likely with each passing day as well, but now there's word out of New York that the Indians are trying to lock Sabathia up instead of trading him.

According to a major-league executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was discussing a player not on his team, the Cleveland Indians are making a last-ditch attempt to sign ace Sabathia to a contract extension before trading him.

Okay, so I have a few problems with this rumor. First of all, it's appearing in the New Jersey Star Ledger, and the Yankees are one of the teams interested in Sabathia. Second of all, the source is an executive from another team, and I'm not sure how that team would know the Indians were thinking about keeping Sabathia around all of a sudden.

Besides, the Indians and Sabathia couldn't come to terms on a new deal during spring training, and Sabathia has said he doesn't want to negotiate during the season. There's also the fact that the Indians aren't going to offer C.C. Johan Santana-type money, while somebody else probably will this off-season. Sabathia has no reason to stay in Cleveland at this point.

So I'm just not buying this, I think it's just some rival executive (let's say, Theo Epstein, just for kicks) trying to mess with the Yankees minds.