from ESPN.com’s Jason Stark :

On Wednesday, Yankees president Randy Levine called Arizona’s incoming CEO, Jeff Moorad, and said the Yankees couldn’t meet Arizona’s price so they were moving on to fill other needs, according to a baseball official who was aware of the conversation.

The teams essentially had agreed that Javier Vazquez would be the centerpiece of any deal, and that the Yankees would send Arizona a large portion of the $19.5-million difference between what was left on Johnson’s contract and the three years remaining on Vazquez’s deal.

Beyond that, though, at least in the Yankees’ view, they were about as far apart as the Empire State Building and the Arizona Biltmore.

At one point, according to a baseball man familiar with the discussions, Arizona asked for Vazquez, Tom Gordon, pitcher Brad Halsey, several prospects and the cash to pay the salaries of both Vazquez and Gordon. The Yankees said: No thanks.

At another point, the Diamondbacks asked the Yankees to find a third team to spice up the deal. In addition to asking for Vazquez, money and prospects, they gave New York a list of 10 pitchers they would accept. It’s believed that list included Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, Scott Kazmir, Edwin Jackson, A.J. Burnett, Ted Lilly, Jason Jennings, Kenny Rogers and Shawn Chacon.

The Yankees eventually countered by offering Vazquez, Halsey, pitcher Alex Graman, another prospect and enough money to pay a significant chunk of Vazquez’s salary. But the Diamondbacks turned that down.

So the Yankees’ response was to inform Arizona that if that offer wasn’t enough, it was time to turn their attention toward the other pitchers on their list.