The city's other tabloid devoted its cover to illustrated news that Jennifer Aniston had done a nude photo shoot.

Torn between these news topics, I lingered at the counter so long, the store clerk told me to buy something or move on.

I will spare you the moral conundrum of whether any human being is really worth $161 million. The only candidates remotely worthy, like Gandhi or Martin Luther King, are also the last people who would have accepted it.

No, the issue, as it is in most Decembers, is whether the Yankees have purchased a pennant. There is no question they helped themselves, a lot.

Sabathia is a terrific pitcher. As a bonus, he is a tremendous clubhouse presence, a unifier who accepts responsibility.

That should help the Yankees, who have had that house-divided look ever since Alex Rodriguez showed up.

But, did this deal tip the American League East power scales? I'm not so sure about that one.

Apparently, neither are the Yankees, who are now chasing A.J. Burnett, Ben Sheets and maybe Derek Lowe.

The division's best team still plays in Florida. As for the Red Sox, it's hard to say until we see what shape David Ortiz and Mike Lowell will be in next spring, and what uniform Mark Teixeira will be wearing.

Signing Sabathia makes Chien-Ming Wang a No. 2 pitcher with an ace's talent.

As for the money, Sabathia is worth $161 million to the Yankees as much as Daisuke Matsuzaka was worth $103 million, signing bonus included, to the Red Sox.

Matsuzaka helped the Sox win one World Series and flirt with another. They have the money, which made him worth it.

But paying Sabathia $161 million does not turn him from a 17-game winner, which he was last year, into a 25-game winner.

Pitching for the Yankees could add a couple to that total. That alone could make a big difference in a close playoff race.

In this era of scarce 20-game winners, though, how much more can be reasonably expected?

Even if he wins 20, he will only be replacing retired Mike Mussina, who won 20 in 2008.

Sabathia is much splashier, but 20 wins is 20 wins.

That doesn't make a 20-game winner worthless. It only means Sabathia is only one man, even if he's paid the salary of several.

This deal helped the Yankees, but the salary numbers are so jarring that it's easy to overstate its impact on the AL East power balance.

If Burnett and/or Sheets also sign with New York, and stay healthy, that will be a different story.

Until then, please leave me alone while I give careful, detached journalistic study to those Aniston photos.

Ron Chimelis can be reached at rchimelis@repub.com