Yankees Sign A.J. Burnett

dominican i'm aware of that :-) just saying hes bought like any other player due to that. I'd say if Manny resigns a dodger, the dodgers "bought" Manny. they got a half season of boston's contract and then bought their own contract. It is possible to accept the option and say sorry i'm not signing you to a 50 million dollar deal.

TimeToGetReal instead of a palace we prefer to refer to the new stadium as a Deathstar

Santan/BeckettFTW, I only bring this up as part of my original argument that the yankees can overspend BECUASE of there sucesse. Of coure NYC is a great place for a ball club, but there were 2 other teams ther before them and they have outlasted both of them.

I was the first person to tell Yanks fans to stop defending out Payroll. I was mereley explaining why we can do what we do.

And its funny that I'm the reason you hate Yankees fans, because youre the reason I hate Red Sox fans! Does that in some weird twisted way makes us friends???

Ah..the Mother of All Chokes. Good times.

i say if they yankees win cashmans a genious if they don't win fire him

metsobsessed if tht cubs would not give up derosa in a deal for peavy, why would they trade for some one worse than derosa in that package. Derosa isn't going anywhere, Lou already was upset that he was even mentioned. HE may not be the best player but he is a great teamplayer and can move around while playing at a good level

Let me recap for you all

Santana/Beckette said:

" genesomc20 sadly its not their success that brought them the money. its the city of NY. New York and boston are huge baseball cities. their moneys not goin anywhere, even if they finish in last for a few years. "

and I said NO, thats not true The Yankees were the third tieam to lay ground in New York and now the other 2 teams before them are gone so it was more than just location.

Then Beckett said I was wrong about that.

btw.. I wasnt wrong about that.

Metsobsessed i understand where your coming from but as mets fans on a yankees thread i dont think we should be arguing about chokes because currently we are in no position to do so. you just sometimes have to give in and give credit where credit is due. in this case i applaud the yankees for not being content with there team and signing the 2 best pitchers on the market. big improvements from rasner and ponson for sure.

I swear to God, you have all diverged so far from the orginal argument, that we dont even have an argument anymore.

I have metobsessed bringing up 2004,

I have Nighthawk bringing up random facts bout Ruths jersey number

and I have Santana, the one man who should remember what we were talking about gangF**cking me with his two new buddies.

dominican i'm aware of that :-) just saying hes bought like any other player due to that. I'd say if Manny resigns a dodger, the dodgers "bought" Manny. they got a half season of boston's contract and then bought their own contract. It is possible to accept the option and say sorry i'm not signing you to a 50 million dollar deal.
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Ugghh...The Yanks did not agree to pick up his option as part of the trade. He was traded , flat out and in winter of 07 the Yanks had the choice of picking up the option or paying him a $2 mil buyout. It's not that hard people.

Besides they just posted that Scott Schoenweis was traded to arizona for Connor Robertson, a 27-year-old righty.
He only made nine major league appearences this yea and has a 3.30 career minor league era. Yeah Schoenweis and a prospect are worth Derosa alright

Hahahaha. Aww man the animosity is killing me!

This whole argurment was originally about AJ right? We touched on so many different spin offs...lol.

Bottom line is the Yanks did nothing illegel and I hope AJ stays healthy and productive.

As a fan I want to thank the Yanks for putting their money up to get the players we needed. Let's get either Sheets or Pettite and maybe another bat if possible. 2 months to go until spring training.

hey yanksfansince78:
for once i agree with you
this is about AJ and i happen to have liked AJ Burnett before he put on pinstripes. I hope for his careers sake he is successful. hes a great pitcher and a good pickup for the yanks. anyone can admit that.

its the years and dollars that concern me.

only reason i brought up other players is to set a trend. not to offend yankees fans.

@YanksFan

The one stat i was referring to was your mention of one international signing. And yes all players should have to go through the draft. If a team feels they cannot sign a potential draftee due to them wanting a larger contract, then they pass, just like they do now. And just because the signings of these players is relatively small, doesnt do anything to help your argument. In fact it takes away from your argument because these players would have the potential to earn much more money via the draft they do would by signing as a FA. If they arent talented, then they will fall into the lower rounds, just like everyone else.

Good God the Yankees love signing long-term, lucrative deals. As if the baseball world didn't learn from the Giants-Zito deal.

Apparently the NYY are imune to the Economic hardships facing other teams.

"New York Yankees: best team money can buy"

I am a lifelong Yankees fan that tries to remain objective. On paper the rotation looks great but as we all know, championships are not won on paper. I like the CC signing. I am still skeptical about Burnett but I know he can be good IF he remains healthy. I hear two big reasons Burnett chose the Yankees (because the $$ offered by both teams was similar) are: Burnett wont have to be the ace in NY. In Atlanta he would have to be so actually the pressure in NY could be less. the second reason is his wife. They live in Baltimore and she refuses to fly. She can take a 3 hour train ride to see him in NY so geography had a lot to do with the decision. I have a question for Braves fans or anyone in the know. Why is there so much talk about Smoltz possibly to Boston or Detroit? Why aren't the Braves trying to re-sign him?

I favor the first rotation personally addymaster because Pettitte is home grown and there are a lot of nice pitchers in the free agent market next year as well. Since Pettitte comes on a 1 year deal maybe next season the Yankees get one of them if Hughes doesnt pan out (which in my opinion after seeing Pelfry as bad as he was become really good Hughes should become an ace with the dominant stuff when healthy he possesses every time he hits the mound.

The Yankees are not immune. That's why they didn't offer arbitration to guys like Abreu, Pettitte, Giambi, etc. They didnt want a third party negotiating for them. If they were going to re-sign their free agents, they wanted to set the price. The Yankees are less affected it seems because their owners have so many other lucrative businesses.

Why are some of you guys hoping these guys land on the DL? That's sour grapes. I hate the Red Sox but I dont hope any of their players get hurt. Please remember, all of these players are people, human beings. Its terrible to wish injury or malice against anyone.

@YanksFan

The one stat i was referring to was your mention of one international signing. And yes all players should have to go through the draft. If a team feels they cannot sign a potential draftee due to them wanting a larger contract, then they pass, just like they do now. And just because the signings of these players is relatively small, doesnt do anything to help your argument. In fact it takes away from your argument because these players would have the potential to earn much more money via the draft they do would by signing as a FA. If they arent talented, then they will fall into the lower rounds, just like everyone else.
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I don't agree. I think a foreign player should be treated like a free agent and allowed to sign with whoever they want. Maybe you can make a rule specficially for the Japaneese league but that's it. You implement a draft for international players and then you do to things. a) latin ball players would have to wait until their 18 in order to enter the draft to make it fair to the US born ameatures. b) signing money for a lot of the US players would dwindle down because of more competition.

The only foreign player pool that really commands a lot of money that might be "unfair" to some of the small market low budget teams would be the Japaneese league. But most of those players are star caliber player's well above the typical age for most draftees. And most have to commit to playing a certain amount of years before they can attempt to leave for the US. So if the average player who's put in his required years to their home team is 28 then how fair is it for them to be put into a draft and then be at the mercy of the team that signs them? And if the amount is considered low, then what? Wait until the next year? There's no perfect system but the current one is the monst balanced for the mlb teams, the japaneese teams who are losing talent and the japaneese/international players, IMO.

than=that*

The final two signings I would like to see are Pettitte, and Manny...yes Manny. I got so tired seeing the Yankees get runners in scoring position with less than two out and scoring one run or less. The clutch hitting was pathetic. Manny is one of the best clutch hitters in the game. Also, it seems he instantly makes the guy hitting in front of him a better hitter. Put him behind A-Rod in the lineup and that should help him. Oh and I forgot, it will be 2009, an odd number year. Maybe another MVP for A-Rod, hopefully it will be a postseason MVP.

In some ways I think we leaned too much on Pettitte last year. He was basically our #2 starter for most of the year when in reality at this stage of his career he is a #4 or 5. I would love to re-sign him. He is a Yankee. But he has to realize that $16M is too much for 14-14 with a 4.5 era for a guy who is closer to 40 than 30. Besides, I dont know if he would get much more than $10M anywhere else. He could end his career where he started it, help open up the new stadium, and hopefully have a chance to get to the post season.

I think Tex goes to Boston or Washingon. They seem to want him more. He would be a really good pick up for Boston especially with the uncertainty around Lowell. If I was Tex I would go to Boston. He will still make plenty of money and hasa better chance to win there. I wont say theres no chance to win in Washington because this tme last year, most of us thought there was no chance for the Rays. Personally, I would rather have Manny, but that would only add to the log jam of corner outfielders.

I would prefer Ankiel, Melky, or Cameron (don't really like this trade but he is a gold glove caliber CF...at least thats what Buck Martinez told me). Edmonds is on his last leg. I dont care how good he was with the Cubs. Yankee Stadium centerfield is a little too big for him.

As a Yankee fan who knows the Steinbrenners have money, I appreciate that they want to spend it by trying to field a competetive team every year. When there is a good product on the field, I do not mind paying the exta money to make it to Yankees games. Obviously, not many Yankees fans mind because the stadium is always packed. By the way, not sure if it is true or not (and this is not a bash by any means), but I hear Boston has the highest ticket prices in the majors. This is a combination of payroll and having a ballpark that seats just over 30,000. Please correct me if I am wrong.

I dont think Pettitte is gone. Tavares does have more speed than Cameron but Cameron did have 17 steals which isnt bad. But Im sure Taveras would be cheaper. I saw where the Yankees had a fleeting interest in trading for Taveras but now he is a free agent. We're not worried about Cameron and HGH. All that stuff with Pettitte and Giambi is water under the bridge. Te MLB is doing their best to get it all cleaned up.

I would omgasm at a rotation of
C.C
Wang
Brunett
Sheets
Joba

I could see it now the new york yankees
with that great pitching staff in the playoffs

I am so happy right now no boston fan can't say anything to me.

I wonder if the Brews will do right by their fans and use that $100 mill to snatch up two or three or for that matter 4 FA players. I wonder if they have enough minor league depth to enter the Peavy fiasco?

I usually get towards the end of a huge post and decide its utterly retarted to argue with some of the people on here. No matter how much sense you make, they are just so content with being ignorant.
So, let me try to break this down as quickly as possible.

The Yankees and Mets are the richest teams in their respective leagues for one reason. Not a century of success, or mystical blues and oranges. Simply, they both operate out of the largest media center IN THE ENTIRE WORLD.
Not only that, but they shell off a gigantic portion of their TV revenue to the rest of the league. Upwards of 25-40% I believe. Forget the physical revenue sharing in regards to a teams payroll. The rest of the league gets paid in gobs of cash because of these teams success. Contracts have only skyrocketed because the teams can afford them. Anyone who thinks teams like the nationals are suffering so bad apparently aren't paying attention to them offering an astronimical contract to tex.

Try to look at MLB much like the world economy. The american dollar may be on the downslide, but will always be a major player on the world stage. The rest of the world cannot exist without the amount of revenue generated by the american consumer. Stop being so closed minded. When Bobby Boner of Kansas City decides to take the Boner Bunch out for a family night at Kauffman because they're Yankee fans and they yanks are in town, they don't just take a tally at the door as to who you're here to see and divide the money up later amongst the two teams. Much like America is to the world, the yankees are to major league baseball. Not only are they making mediocre teams contenders, but they're probably keeping a few teams in existance right now.
Go take your anti-capitalist BS and move to France. While there you can root for the Marlins and piss on the american flag.
We're a capitalist country who is supposed to praise those who actually rise above the rest and put visible distance between them and the competition.
Before you decide to take the sheepish movement and try to kill the big guy, try to educate yourself first. You might find out that the big guy does more for you alive than dead.

As for the actual article, of course the contract is a bit overblown. 90% of the FAs for years now have gone to the highest bidder. Sure, you can state the oddballs where players took less to play near home, but they're few and far between. If Tex got offered 15/500 to play for an alaskan expansion team, I bet he'd take it.
If the Yankees got AJ at 5/100 it would be absurd. The contract they got him at was simply them paying what the market dictated. The sox shelling out twice the 2nd place bid for Dice-K was a bit absurd. The Yankees tossing a few extra mil ontop of a 5 year pact is really nothing. Actually it was pretty astute of them to not go wastefully far above the braves offer.

As far as the rotation goes, any fan who wants sheets at this point obviously doesn't have much in the department of baseball smarts. I'd rather we look like this

L- C.C
R- Wang
R- Burnett
L- Pettite
R- Hughes

Move Joba to the pen for godsake. I've heard many yankee fans rumbling "why move a bred starter with 3 + pitches to the pen?".
Simply, because we did it with a guy named Mariano and it worked out pretty well. Pitching 7 inning games with that rotation sounds pretty good to me.

On a somewhat related sidenote. I would really like to make an MLBTR readers poll for 2 things.
1) The amount of readers who have played at or above the High School level.
2) The amount of readers who have taken and actually passed any sort of class regarding economics.

If the Yankees win the World Series, Yankee haters are going to say they only won because they had money and bought their championship

If the Yankees don't win the World Series, they are going to laugh and say spending all that money and buing players doesn't win championships

How does it go both ways in that case?

I'm aware not every Yankee hater on here says that, but there are plenty that would (Some I know are smart, some are not smart.....and sorry to say, but the same goes for Yankee fans......I'm not considering myself better though lol)

Anyone excited by the Yankees starting pitching is deluded. Wang's future is uncertain. Joba has not proven he can pitch the innings. Do any contenders in the AL fear Hughes on the mound in October? Did (most likely pickup) Pettite look like 80% of his former self last year? Then what about next year...60%? And now to the BIG signings. Everyone acts like the only question mark with Burnett is his health. I think they're confusing him with Harden. Burnett gets wild often and also gets overamped when the heat is on. Won't that be a major problem in playoffs? And CC? I don't think anyone has mentioned yet how CC has pitched in his five postseason starts. 25 IP, 7.92 ERA, 22W, 24K, 33H and, if any of you watched those games, about 100 pitches every three innings. That's not what you want from your ace in October, is it? If you had to pick one pitcher from mlb to start Game 7 of the WS for you, would it be CC? Would CC even be in the top five? Top ten?

I'm not saying the Yankees are doomed or that they suck. But they aren't built for a championship. No one on that staff will simply take a WS game and shut down an opponent. And to win in October, you need two guys who dominate.

"Now that Taveras has been non tendered, could he possibly be looked at to add a tinge of speed to the Yankees? "

We already have Gardner for the no hit all-speed slot and just non-tendered Christian who was another Tavares clone.

Cameron can hit a bit and if the price is just Melky, that's not bad.

is there sand up everyone's hoo-has? we be lowering payroll.

I assume they would not resign Pettite then but put Joba in at 5.

Anyone excited by the Yankees starting pitching is deluded. Wang's future is uncertain. Joba has not proven he can pitch the innings. Do any contenders in the AL fear Hughes on the mound in October? Did (most likely pickup) Pettite look like 80% of his former self last year? Then what about next year...60%? And now to the BIG signings. Everyone acts like the only question mark with Burnett is his health. I think they're confusing him with Harden. Burnett gets wild often and also gets overamped when the heat is on. Won't that be a major problem in playoffs? And CC? I don't think anyone has mentioned yet how CC has pitched in his five postseason starts. 25 IP, 7.92 ERA, 22W, 24K, 33H and, if any of you watched those games, about 100 pitches every three innings. That's not what you want from your ace in October, is it? If you had to pick one pitcher from mlb to start Game 7 of the WS for you, would it be CC? Would CC even be in the top five? Top ten?

I'm not saying the Yankees are doomed or that they suck. But they aren't built for a championship. No one on that staff will simply take a WS game and shut down an opponent. And to win in October, you need two guys who dominate.
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Games still have to be played because nothing is won on paper but anyone who can't see that a rotation with CC, Burnett, Wang, Sheets/Pettite and Joba has the potential to be the best in the AL is not only a Yankee hater but extremely delusional.

can i just ask the question of why does everyone put burnett as there number 2 pitcher. Wang is easily their number 2

YanksFanSince78
"And to win in October, you need two guys who dominate."

What does that mean?
The White Sox won the series with awesome pitching that year and who did they have Buehrle, Garland, Contreras and Freddy Garcia.. not exactly dominate guys... what you need to win championships is a combination of 'never say die' and luck.

Yanks27: Not sure when I said that but what is your point? Dominate doesn't always mean strikeout pitchers. We need at least 2 stud pitchers in the playoffs. Is that not true? I think CC and Aj can be those guys.

"Uh. Mo has 1 pitch. Joba has 4. We just paid 161MM for an ace. 82.5MM for a #3.

The Mets picked up a top notch closer for $37MM.

Anyone who thinks Joba will not develop into at least an AJ Burnett level starter does not have much baseball knowledge.

In today's market that is twice the value of a top closer. "

Maybe you dont recall, but when Mo was coming up he had an arsenal of pitches. Most young pitchers can throw upwards of 6 pitches. Of course, it's not always smart for them to use them. Mo stopped using his other pitches simply because he didn't need them. Neither does Joba. He has a disgusting slider and fastball that pops. All he needs to be an elite closer. The more curves and changes Joba throws, the more he's going to hang and get knocked around because theyre not his primary pitches. He doesn't throw them for a reason. Why mess with him if he can easily get hitters out with what he's got?

Joba has a great pitching build, but it's absurd to guarantee a pitchers greatness. Homer Bailey has amazing tools, may never amount to anything. When it comes to any Professional sport, if you can find 1 thing you do above average, you're set.

YanksFanSince78 if you're still on this thread, this is all opinion on everyone's part. On what do I base my opinion about all these pitchers? Besides ERA and other usual stats, it pretty much comes down to a gut sense of which pitchers do I least want my team to have to face. And the one thing those pitchers all have is consistent excellence. You can 100% count on them. My point about all those other guys wasn't that Cashman should have gotten them this year. Obviously, they weren't available. But the alternative shouldn't be sign whoever the big name is this year---there should have been more of a plan over the last 12 years.

Simply put, should Cashman after a dozen years have a roster with this many holes? Don't the Yankees deserve better? If you go back to 1996 or whenever he came on as GM, do you think he did the best job that any GM could have done since then? Not was he perfect, but could anyone in mlb have done better with that money? The last rings were in 2000, the last Yankee team that was the best team in mlb was 2003. Cashman is in line for blame in the decline.

Maybe you guys were a little distraught after the strike and missed the entire 95 season. A season in which Mo, a bred shortstop turned starting pitcher, started 10 games for the Yankees. At the time Mo was throwing a mixture of Fastballs (2 & 4 seam), a change and a slider. All pitches were being described as ++ stuff by scouts. After Mo came in one day an sat down 11 batters in a start, sports writters where automatically putting the "future #1" tag on him. Guy threw 95-98 with good location and excellent movement. If we had the same blogging environment in 95 that we have now, Rivera would have much more hype than Joba ever has.
Not to mention the fact that every scout outside of our orginization has said that Joba has 2 ++ pitches, his fastball and slider. The rest is just hyperbole. You could easily see that in Joba's starts last season. The games in which he got knocked around were mainly due to his usage of his below average curve ball. Armchair quarterbacks like to throw the ++ rating out there even when it's absurd to do so. There wasn't a single hook or change that he threw last season that made people turn their heads, that's a ++ pitch. Not the curve he throws and gets deposited 400ft away.

The kid is amazing. There's just one thing you don't understand. Professional baseball players are the top 5-10% of atheletes who have ever played the game. To find just 1 spot in which your good is an anomaly. The rest is called pushing your luck.
Of course I'm worried about putting 180-200 innings on this guys arm. He's already proven that he can be a potential all star in the pen. I'm sure you've never had a serious sports related injury and have no clue how you can never be 100% in that area again. If Joba winds up needing tommy john or rotator cuff surgery, there's an excellent chance he will never be the same pitcher again. Those 20 ++ pitches he supposedly has will disapear on the noodle that hangs off his shoulder.
While you may be ready to see postseason wins disapear at the hands of Humberto Sanchez for the next decade, I'm not as ready to do that.

Mo retiring will be the biggest loss the Yankees have seen in deacades. Much worse than seeing that duckfart Renteria hit in game 7. Personally, Id much rather see Joba throwing 50-70 innings a year out of the pen and securing wins than 150 as a 5th starter.

You have 3 current or former #1 starters in your rotation. Joba would see waste as a 4th or 5th starter. Hughes however could greatly benefit from the experience. Send Joba to the pen and let Mo groom him. Even if you want Sanchez to be our future closer, he's still not going to get much experience in with Mo, which is possibly priceless.

i guess lowe is next. why do i hate the yankees so much?

Posted by: huey | December 15, 2008 at 01:11 PM

Well either A- You're a Red Sox fan, or B- You root for a small market team who doesn't make a lot of money to pay the players as much as the Yankees can (which of course they do overpay them)

"You have 3 current or former #1 starters in your rotation. Joba would see waste as a 4th or 5th starter. Hughes however could greatly benefit from the experience. Send Joba to the pen and let Mo groom him. Even if you want Sanchez to be our future closer, he's still not going to get much experience in with Mo, which is possibly priceless."

That is the beauty of the whole situation. we have two young studs that more than likely will project to have top of the rotation stuff with Joba and Phil, but they won't be able to sniff the 1,2,3 slots for 5 years assuming we give Chien-Ming some sort of deal.

Besides, Sanchez is a project wherever he is placed... Melancon is the top prospect reliever with ~6"break on a 94mph 2sfb. we have marte locked up for 3. bruney has skillz. Robertson, Veras, eRam, Christian Garcia may have to resort to the bullpen. soo many options; don't even sweat it, dawg