AJ Burnett - I'm intrigued by this.

[magnumo]

I now am wondering who else is in on him. Lastly, there is no way I am good with paying $15 million to Burnett over two seasons, even if we don't give up any prospects.

I'm with you on the money. Anything over $10 mill for 2 years seems excessive to me. It wouldn't bother me at all if Huntington gets outbid above $10 mill.

At any rate, it's beginning to appear that Huntington recognizes that he needs to do something more this off-season. As it stands, this team has little chance to show improvement over 2011, IMO.

 

[Darkstone42]

I think Huntington is starting to recognize just how much he's going to need to overpay to bring in a guy. It will be interesting to see how he handles it. I kind of hope he just goes for it.

Burnett isn't worth $15 million over 2 years, but I have decided Neal should do it just because it could at least start to change the perception of free agents for next year, when the pitching market at the very least actually projects quite nicely.

We need capable arms, and Burnett is a capable arm.

 

[element1286]

2 years 10 million, 2 years 18 million, who cares, they have money to spend, and are spending it.

 

[Illinest]

Heard yankees inquired on kingham. If the pirates give up ANY prospect in that range of value then im gonna flip to critical. If we take burnett on then were doing the yankees a favor. They dont deserve anything

 

[Darkstone42]

Heard yankees inquired on kingham. If the pirates give up ANY prospect in that range of value then im gonna flip to critical. If we take burnett on then were doing the yankees a favor. They dont deserve anything

If anything, the Yankees should be giving us prospects...

 

[Darkstone42]

DK Tweets that he thinks it's all but a done deal, and that they're just haggling money at this point.

Also, a couple more articles.

AJ Burnett is not Matt Morris (and other thoughts on the potential trade) | February 2012

Yankees righthander A.J. Burnett is not angry about trade talks that could send him to Pittsburgh Pirates - NY Daily News

 

[magnumo]

Thanks much for those additional references, Darkstone.

I guess it all boils down to whether there's another team out there willing to take Burnett and more of his salary than the Pirates are willing to take.

I'm happy that the Bucs didn't give up Garrett Jones in the deal. I'd even hate to see us give up someone like Kingham..... but perhaps a prospect is necessary to help the Yankees save face.

 

[element1286]

And the Nats wanted Peter Bourjos for John Lannan.

They aren't getting Kingham, most likely they will get Nate Baker and/or Victor Black, or someone similar.

 

[stillmatic32]

I hope they can acquire him around 2 years/10 mill. If they have to pay a little more so be it, I can live with that. If they give up a real prospect, can't live with that.

Get Burnett out of the AL East and off the Yankees and I'm pretty sure he will be at least a decent option in the rotation.

 

[Etrius24]

I agree with Element... There is money to spend... This is a way for them to make the team better and to spend some of that money.

As long as they do not send much back in the way of prospects...The money issue will take care of itself... The fact that they are getting some money from the Yankees for me means this is a good deal for the Pirates.

In 2011 Burnett was a pretty solid pitcher..Too many Hr's allowed! Other than that his peripherals are all strong... 1 hit per inning...8 K per 9 innings....He was durable 190 innings pitched. He had a strong Strikeout to walk ratio better than 2:1

Get him out of the AL where he can face a pitcher 3 times a game and I think he will rebound nicely.

200 innings 175 strikeouts.. less than a hit per inning... That is a quality arm and if we get that for 6-8 million the bucs are still getting a good deal.

 

[Darkstone42]

I agree with Element... There is money to spend... This is a way for them to make the team better and to spend some of that money.

As long as they do not send much back in the way of prospects...The money issue will take care of itself... The fact that they are getting some money from the Yankees for me means this is a good deal for the Pirates.

In 2011 Burnett was a pretty solid pitcher..Too many Hr's allowed! Other than that his peripherals are all strong... 1 hit per inning...8 K per 9 innings....He was durable 190 innings pitched. He had a strong Strikeout to walk ratio better than 2:1

Get him out of the AL where he can face a pitcher 3 times a game and I think he will rebound nicely.

200 innings 175 strikeouts.. less than a hit per inning... That is a quality arm and if we get that for 6-8 million the bucs are still getting a good deal.

I'm going to focus here.

Too many home runs indeed! One in six fly balls went over the fence. That's kind of absurd. Last year, Major League hitters got a home run out of every ten fly balls.

Make that number average, and only take away one run for each home run he was above average, and all of a sudden his ERA drops to 4.50 last season. Factor in 2- and 3-run home runs, and the number closes in on 4.00.

Not great still, but a heck of a lot better, especially pitching in a hitter's park against some of the best lineups in baseball.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if Burnett puts up comparable numbers to, say, Edwin Jackson this season. So if it means saving prospects, I'd go as high as taking on $20 million of his salary.

 

[magnumo]

Here's a bit of humor from a New York writer on the proposed Burnett-to-Pittsburgh deal:

Memo to Yankees: Pull trigger on A.J. deal - Yankees Blog - ESPN New York

 

[evolver115]

I'm going to focus here.

Too many home runs indeed! One in six fly balls went over the fence. That's kind of absurd. Last year, Major League hitters got a home run out of every ten fly balls.

Make that number average, and only take away one run for each home run he was above average, and all of a sudden his ERA drops to 4.50 last season. Factor in 2- and 3-run home runs, and the number closes in on 4.00.

Not great still, but a heck of a lot better, especially pitching in a hitter's park against some of the best lineups in baseball.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if Burnett puts up comparable numbers to, say, Edwin Jackson this season. So if it means saving prospects, I'd go as high as taking on $20 million of his salary.

I also would like to interject here that Burnett was pitching quite a few games in the band-box known as Yankee Stadium. PNC park is much more forgiving, as I'm sure all Bucco fans know. Just something to keep in mind when the point is brought up about how many dingers AJ surrendered, last season.

And if there are any doubters out there about what kind of a factor Yankee Stadium plays in surrendering the long ball, take a look at this:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/parkfactor/_/sort/HRFactor

Only 3 other parks in MLB are less forgiving...

 

[evolver115]

I would just like to add that I'm fully behind Neal and Frank on this, and I hope like hell they make it happen. The Pirates desperately need an innings eater on the mound every fifth day. Burnett probably isn't going to garner any Cy Young consideration, but he sure would add a stabilizing factor to the rotation, and that's all I could ask for at this point, so close to camp opening.

 

[thecrow124]

I was just thinking about something. Anyone remember on the old boards when we were extatic because Ian Snell was having his breakout season, hitting 92-94 with his FB on the gun. I remember it like it was yesterday, funny that now my KNOCK on Burnett is that his average FB velocity it DOWN to a little over 92. While I will not be clamoring over him the same way, I think I also may be judging him a bit harshly.

 

[element1286]

I can't remember exactly, but wasn't Snell's slider his actual plus pitch? I remember his fastball being hard, but kind of flat, so fairly average overall.

 

[thecrow124]

I can't remember exactly, but wasn't Snell's slider his actual plus pitch? I remember his fastball being hard, but kind of flat, so fairly average overall.

There was later an article on BP (I think it was BP) about him saying that although the gun registered him at 92+, from where he released the ball, it actually looked like 87-88 to the hitter. Not sure about the slider, but I know that year he was our only starter throwing above 90.

 

[element1286]

There was later an article on BP (I think it was BP) about him saying that although the gun registered him at 92+, from where he released the ball, it actually looked like 87-88 to the hitter. Not sure about the slider, but I know that year he was our only starter throwing above 90.

Good call on the article, remember that now. I think it was Chris Young from the Padres who was the opposite of Snell, his FB was 87-89, but it played 91-93.

 

[magnumo]

From watching Snell pitch in person a number of times, I remember both his fast ball and slider looked pretty good..... decent velocity and good movement. His problem was that he just wouldn't pitch inside. Everything was away-away-away. You could see guys sitting on the outside pitch. I kept waiting for Snell to bust hitters inside..... but he just never seemed to do it except by accident.

Snell was another guy that folks couldn't get through to..... a good arm, but a bad head.

 

[Etrius24]

Darkstone

I agree completely... Switching to the NL facing a pitcher three times a game instead of a DH... And not having to pitch half your games in Yankee Stadium... And Burnett could be something special. I do not expect an all star appearance or any cy young votes... But an ERA under 4.50 closer to 4.00 would not be ridiculous... Especially when you look at the strong K rate... and the fact that he only allowed 1 hit per inning..

When you only give up 1 hit per inning and you almost strike out 1 batter per inning...That usually translates into success.... The Velocity might be down to 92-94... but he struck out batters in 2011 like he was still pitching for the Marlins a decade ago.