New York Yankees and Pittsburgh Pirates Discussing A.J. Burnett Trade
We know the story by now. The New York Yankees’ A.J. Burnett has disappointed (to put it lightly) during his three-year tenure in the Bronx. Aside from one start – albeit a pretty filthy one – most fans would say that A.J. Burnett has delivered absolutely zero value to the squad. I won’t get into arguing or discussing that one way or the other, but I think we can all agree that the $85 million man has not lived up to expectations. Trade talks have swirled around A.J. Burnett since the Winter Meetings and they could be heating up again as the New York Yankees and Pittsburgh Pirates appear to be making progress toward an agreement according to Jon Heyman.
Before we get our hopes up, we should remember what we’re dealing with here. Burnett – a bad starting pitcher – is owed $33 million and the Yanks don’t want to pick up too much of the dump tab. Heyman reports that the Yanks offered to pay about half of the remaining obligation while the Pirates countered with a willingness to pay less than $10 million of the remaining salary. The Bucs also are not willing to meet the Yankees’ request for Garrett Jones either – at least not at this juncture.
I guess the natural question at this point is: why in the HELL do the Pirates have any interest in Burnett? After missing out on veteran starting pitchers Edwin Jackson, Roy Oswalt and maybe some others that we just didn’t hear anything about they see Burnett as a viable backup option. Maybe they figure that the National League Central will treat him kinder than the American League (b)East has over the past couple of years. And if nothing else, he’ll probably eat some innings, right?
Again, I don’t want to get my hopes up too much. I already got more excited about this than I should have when I came across the article and now I’m trying to curb it. This would obviously be an incredible move if Brian Cashman can pull it off though. I don’t even really care who comes back in return, I just want to get A.J. Burnett out of the Bronx and clear out some of Phil Hughes’ competition. Stay tuned.
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Great post!
Thanks a lot Mark. I appreciate it!