Not too long before the Yankees decided to sign Rafael Soriano, New York’s GM, Brian Cashman, said that he wasn’t willing to lose a draft pick. With that said, many thought that Yankees would be out on the relief pitcher because he was classified as a Type-A free agent.  Shortly after his statement, the Yankees surprised many by signing the 2010 American League saves leader.

Today, at the Yankees press conference to introduce Soriano as a part of the team, Cashman made it known to all that it wasn’t his decision to sign Soriano. Rather, the driving force to have him apart of the team was from the ownership.

“This certainly will help us try to win a championship, there’s no doubt about that, so that’s in the plus column,” Cashman said. “But I didn’t recommend it, just because I didn’t think it was an efficient way to allocate the remaining resources we have. We had a lot of debate about that.” (via Brian Hoch of MLB.com)

Hoch reported that it was Yankees managing general partner, Hal Steinbrenner, and team president, Randy Levine, who ultimately sealed the deal.

Cashman was against losing the team’s first round pick in 2011 draft pick and paying closer-type money to a setup man.

“He’s a tremendous player in what he does,” he said. “But for me, I’m pretty transparent in how I’ve evolved in building your team. Early on, we’ve obviously committed a lot of money to relievers and had some difficulties with that. And you’ve seen the success we’ve had over the last number of years.”

Wallace Matthews of ESPNNewYork.com believes that Cashman was wrong about the deal, but he respects Cashman for sticking to his principles, and for having the integrity not to lie or back down or change his story regarding Soriano.