A.J. Burnett's New York nightmare is almost over. The Yankees are close to finalizing a trade that would send Burnett -- and some 20 million dollars -- to the Pittsburgh Pirates. And what a trade it would be.
The Yankees and Pirates are still in debate as to which low-level minor leaguers the Pirates will send to New York, reports John Heyman of CBS, but the two clubs are in agreement on the $20 million, which is the most substantial part of the deal.
As crazy as it sounds for the Yankees to pay $20 million to rid themselves of Burnett, this ought to work out as a great trade for both sides.
The Yankees will get a savings of $13 million over the next two years and a couple of young players who may or may not amount to anything of value in a few years. The Pirates get a veteran pitcher who still has some potential in his still-electric, if erratic, right arm for the reasonable price of $6.5 million a year for two years.
It was time -- maybe even past time -- for the Yankees to own up to their mistake on Burnett and clear out the roster space. The 5-year, $82 million contract the Yanks gave him in 2009 is obviously a mistake on retrospect -- but the club should have known better at the time.
Burnett has always had a great arm. But besides the career year he had in 2008, when he went 18-10 and struck out an AL-best 231 batters, Burnett had never won more than 12 games in a season since breaking in with the Marlins in 1999, and had a number of injuries along the way. The Yankees gambled on a 31-year-old Burnett, thinking that his big 2008 season was a turning point in his career, bot a flash in the pan. They were wrong. But Burnett did have his moments.
Electric arms like Burnett's don't come around very often. And for a Yankees franchise that has annual plans for playing in October, potentially dominant power arms like Burnett's are even more valuable. He saved them in game 2 of the 2009 World Series against the Phillies. Even just last fall, there was A.J. Burnett, making a crucial start for the Yankees in October, fending off elimination for the Pinstripes with a good-enough outing in game 4 of the ALDS.
But Burnett leaves New York as a Yankee failure. Brian Cashman probably knew Burnett had the potential to fail when the Yankees gave him that contract. But they also knew he had the potential to be great. He wasn't. But for a team like the Yankees, that's a chance that, sometimes, you've got to take.
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