This doesn’t effect the Yankees so much as it does the Milwaukee Brewers, but if the Bombers were to sign Ben Sheets in addition to CC Sabathia the Beer Makers would miss out on an additional 1st-round draft pick.
By signing Sabathia the Yankees forfeited one of their two 1st-round picks, but the other is compensation for not signing Gerritt Cole and is thus protected. So if they signed Sheets there would be no 1st-rounder for the Brewers to receive. Instead they would get the 2nd-round pick of the Yankees.
The reason this doesn’t really effect the Yankees is because they’re going to lose their 2nd pick no matter which other type-A free agents they sign. So it wouldn’t benefit them to sign AJ Burnett over Ben Sheets in that regard.
Rob Abruzzese