NEW YORK -- Yankees president Randy Levine has fired back at Texas Rangers owner Chuck Greenberg, calling him "delusional."

The message was direct: Mind your business and keep your team off "welfare."

Levine made his comments in response to Greenberg's opinion that the Rangers kept the chase for Cliff Lee going long enough for the Phillies to sneak in and take Lee from the clutches of New York to the National League.

"I think Chuck is delusional," Levine told ESPNewYork.com. "He has been running the Rangers for a few minutes and seems to believe he's mastered what everyone else is thinking. I think he should let Cliff Lee speak for himself. I'll be impressed when he demonstrates he can keep the Rangers off welfare. What I mean is make them not be a revenue-sharing recipient for three years in a row, without taking financing from baseball or advance money from television networks. Then I'll be impressed."

The Yankees and Rangers have been going at it in the board room and in the media ever since the Rangers beat the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. The Yankees were chapped that Greenberg said Lee might not want to play in New York because of how the fans acted toward Lee's wife.

The Yankees, including part-owner Hal Steinbrenner, went to the airwaves and responded, calling out Greenberg. Now, Levine is taking on Greenberg again because the Rangers' owner said he was glad that Lee ended up in the NL and not with the Yankees.