ESPN is currently reporting that a 5 year, $82.5 million deal has been agreed to in principle between AJ Burnett and the Yankees.
If we ignore the fact that right now the Yankees seem to be printing their own money, this is a move that has to be approached with a lot of caution.
Burnett can be great, and you'd be hard pressed to find a Yankee or Yankee fan not excited at the prospect of not having to actually face Burnett, but the lengthy injury history is a major red flag. We're talking the Yankees are Marie Antoinette and Burnett is the storming of the Bastille--so what if I've been watching the History Channel?
It almost has a here we go again feel to it, but the good news is that because the Yankees signed Sabathia, they will (hopefully) not have to rely on Burnett as their ace.
Conventional wisdom states that you don't sign free agents coming from your division rival because there's probably a real good reason if they're letting one of their stars go to your team--at least in Burnett's case, the caveat is well known.
Friday, December 12, 2008
A Jay comes to the Yankees
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The Jays had to let Burnett go. Their owner just died a few weeks ago and they are in a holding pattern on issuing big contracts. Burnett's injury may have been a factor, but the owner's death was the deciding factor.
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