New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman says owner Hal Steinbrenner ordered him to finalize the team's trade for Alfonso Soriano.

Cashman wanted to be more patient in his talks with the Chicago Cubs.

"I didn't want to give up [Single-A pitcher] Corey Black, but I didn't nix the Soriano deal," Cashman said. "I did not want to do Corey Black. We had been negotiating with the Cubs for a long time. They wanted something more a week earlier and ownership, obviously, in our discussions [felt] we needed to do something.

"They were like, 'Hey, we are not going to wait anymore to negotiate, we have to get this done now.'"