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$91M For Burnett, Really?...Make That $85M
UPDATE: Rosenthal now has the Yankees as the front runners with a deal worth approximately $85M for five years. Ugh.
Ken Rosenthal has the scoop on a guaranteed five-year offer the Yanks have extended to A.J. Burnett. The terms: 5 years, $91M.
Let that sink in for a second. $18.2M/year for a guy who has thrown 200 innings or more only 3 times in his 8 full seasons in the league. It's no coincidence that two of those seasons were walk years. The Yanks seem to blinded by his stuff and his effectiveness against them. This has terrible mistake written all over it.
It's not necessarily that I think Burnett won't perform. I'm sure if he goes somewhere else in the American League East he'll be dominant for the next five years. It's just that I have this sinking feeling that in Pinstripes, he'll bust. That, and I don't really think they need him.
If the Yanks have that kind of money to throw around at this point, I'd much rather they throw it at Teixeira, to be honest. Their pitching wasn't bad in 2008. The offense was the problem. They've already improved their rotation by leaps and bounds by signing CC. If you're going to make another huge signing, it should be to shore up the offense. It most definitely should not be on a guy like Burnett who can dominate when he's healthy and motivated, but hasn't shown the ability to stay either healthy or motivated. It's not like he's a kid, either. The guy is 32 years-old. If you're expecting some kind of miraculous maturation to occur at this point you're kidding yourself.
I can only hope the Braves will top their reported $80M offer and the Yanks will back down. Honestly, I'd be much happier if Sheets signed for the reported $13M/per and they got a guy like Randy Wolf to slot into the fourth spot in the rotation. Even better, I could live with this rotation:
- CC Sabathia
- Chien-Ming Wang
- Ben Sheets or Randy Wolf
- Joba Chamberlain/Phil Hughes/Aceves
- Hughes/Aceves/Kennedy/Warm Body
The Yanks must feel burned by their reliance on the young guys last season, but with that front of the rotation you can afford to figure things out on the fly with the four and five spots.
UPDATE: Rosenthal apparently removed the $91M figure from his story, which I guess means it was B.S. and he didn't feel like explaining why he got it wrong. The offer isn't confirmed anywhere, but the best number I've heard is $80M. (hat tip MLBTR)
I think the $91M number was coming from Burnett's agent, as a "target" number, not an offer.
Either way, it's preposterous.
Yeah, I'm surprised Rosenthal printed it, he's usually pretty thorough. Even $80M, which seems to be a legit number, is too much to commit to him.
What about a guy like Jon Garland instead of Sheet/Burnett/Wolf? He would be even less money and then the Yanks could still go after Tex.
Garland is an average pitcher who eats innings. I could definitely live with that as a space filler at the back of the rotation.