The Yankees signed Alfredo Aceves on this date in 2008. The investment paid off, as the Yankees obtained 126 innings of 3.21 ERA baseball from the right-hander before non-tendering him last offseason. He signed with the rival Red Sox about a year ago and excelled in 2011, his debut campaign in Boston. Aceves' arbitration case remains unresolved and his 24-3 career record and 2.93 ERA should be enough to make things interesting should the sides go to a hearing. Here are today’s AL East links…
- Red Sox GM Ben Cherington said the hearings for Aceves and David Ortiz aren’t scheduled this week, Alex Speier of WEEI.com tweets.
- Yankees GM Brian Cashman said last night at Sacred Heart University that he's comfortable with A.J. Burnett in his starting rotation, Matt Ehalt of ESPNNewYork.com reports. The right-hander has two years and $33MM remaining on his contract.
- The Yankees have three players on the 40-man roster with less than five years of service who are out of options: Boone Logan, Chris Dickerson and Justin Maxwell.
- Meanwhile, the Blue Jays have four such players in Rajai Davis, Luis Perez, Sergio Santos and Luis Valbuena. Jeff Mathis and Dustin McGowan have five-plus years of service and are out of options.
Tim Dierkes contributed to this post.
Burnett in the rotation? WHAT?
That’s false information here, not a direct quote. He didn’t say he’s comfortable with Burnett *in the starting rotation*. Follow the link.
Read the last paragraph, dude.
“But if we have the ball in his hands I believe that he’ll do well for us.”
Key word there is if. You have to think they like CC, Nova, Kuroda, Pineda, and Garcia better than Burnett despite his durability.
“It’s in there and his ability is in there and he does care, so I’m going to stay with him.”
What do you think he’s going to say? “AJ sucks, we’re sick of him and trying to trade him without paying 90% of his contract.”? And my main point was that he did not say he was comfortable with him *in the starting rotation* like the article says.
says nothing about the rotation, just pitching in general, that includes relief work
you need to read it again yankfan1 he did mention rotation…..” Yankees GM Brian Cashman said last night at Sacred Heart University that he’s comfortable with A.J. Burnett in his starting rotation ”
that being said, i think they need to move him. yeah i understand its going to take eating most of his contract but oh well. its only two years, trade him get a DH use Garcia and Hughes in the 5th spot during spring training give who ever does better the spot. trade him to the white sox for Adam Dunn. maybe he will do better with the short porch in RF
did you just make that up? i just reread every quotation 3 times, and Cahsman says nothing about that. He says he feels comfrotable with him in a role with the team.
I dont think they can trade burnett, so id rather trade Garcia, save the 4 mill you gave him. Theyre saying they wont spend more than 2. 2+4= 6 . according to reports thats more than enough to sign any of the remaing DH options. Garcia is probably going to be more effective. But i want Hughes as our #5, i think hes going to have a nice year. you have Burnett as the long man and Warren/ phelps in AAA to step up if anything.
2 years and $33 mil. Is there any mystery here?
Is Jon Heyman involved?
Please keep Aceves in the pen.
I agree with this statement.
idk sox may need him in the rotation. it isnt looking to good with oswalt and Ejax. looks like you guys maybe starting the season with bard and aceves in the rotation.
idk sox may need him in the rotation. it isnt looking to good with oswalt and Ejax. looks like you guys maybe starting the season with bard and aceves in the rotation.
What is the difference between having less than 5 years service time or more than 5 years, as far as being out of options?
I believe that if you have more than 5 years you can reject the outright assignment and become a free agent, whereas if you have less than 5 years you have to go to AAA.
What’s the difference between being “optioned to triple-A,” and being “outrighted to triple-A,” anyway? Is that even what it means to be “out of options”?
Where did the Yankees sign him from?
Mexican league. That’s where he was playing. He was in other mlb organizations prior, but never debuted with them. He came thru the Yanks system and made his mlb debut with them.
Burnett is terribly overpaid and as much as I’d love to see him traded he could very well be the best #5 pitcher in a rotation in baseball behind Sabathia, Pineda, Nova and Kurado.
Despite the fact that he only threw 146 innings last year, Freddy Garcia would still make a significantly better #5.
you do realize only throwin 146 innings was due to not lasting long in games right?
Except Burnett is a terrible pitcher and is one of the worst (or at least bottom 15) #5 starters.
Yup
im all for giving guys another chance at proving fans wrong, but burnett was given the last 3 years to prove he can pitch like he did in toronto. he was suppose to be a boston killer, and i have yet to see him pitch like that. although last year in the playoffs he pitched better then anyone in the 1 game he started. and i mean anyone as anyone off of both teams. givin up 1 run on 4 hits in 5 and 2/3 innings. to get the 10-1 win. maybe thats him turning around and maybe pitching better this season? who knows. hopefully he does for the sake of his career and to atleast leave new york in a better way then he has been in the last couple years
im all for giving guys another chance at proving fans wrong, but burnett was given the last 3 years to prove he can pitch like he did in toronto. he was suppose to be a boston killer, and i have yet to see him pitch like that. although last year in the playoffs he pitched better then anyone in the 1 game he started. and i mean anyone as anyone off of both teams. givin up 1 run on 4 hits in 5 and 2/3 innings. to get the 10-1 win. maybe thats him turning around and maybe pitching better this season? who knows. hopefully he does for the sake of his career and to atleast leave new york in a better way then he has been in the last couple years
and then hit Marlon Byrd in the face..
Off topic, but did baseball america come out with its annual organization rankings yesterday? i read it did but can’t find them anywhere
They released it in their Prospect Handbook. They will probably post an update in March on their website.
awww maaaaaaan, that’s so long! (giggity)
but seriously, cool, thanks
What team do you follow?
Oakland. Most rankings have them between 12 and 15, but BA seems to hate them for whatever reason, so they’ll probably be around 19 or 20
26th…BUT…it doesn’t include prospects from Gonzalez trade.
I can see Beane trading a $4mil reliever to Jays by next year for a couple of prospects….similar to White Sox trading Frasor to Jays.
ugh, sadly i’m not surprised, they have 27 year old jermaine freaking mitchell as the 8th best prospect, and that IS including the return for gio gonzalez.
i tend to take BA’s oakland ratings with a grain of salt now. all their other ratings seem to be fine.
hm seems like grant balfour would be a fit with the jays in that case. we’d gladly take him for one of their gagillion B/B+ prospects
Jays arent interested. We already have our closer in Sergio Santos and after Cordero and Oliver leave next season, who ever doesnt make the starting rotation will be in the pen (Drabek, Alvarez, Carreno, Hutchinson, Perez, etc. could take over).
If AJ can give 20 starts of 5 decent innings and hands the rest over to the bullpen, I could live with that. And yes, I do realize that that is asking a lot.
I believe he was coming off of a shoulder injury and the Yankees didn’t expect him to be healthy. If I remember correctly.
I believe it was a back injury, but an injury nonetheless
I think he came up with either the Blue Jays or the Rays and then went to play in Mexico which is where the Yanks scouted him
He was signed as a free agent by the Blue Jays in 2001.
Back injury.. And yes.. I for one would like to see Boston roll the dice and see Cherrington go ahead and give him a 3 year deal in the 7-9m range. Past health issues and all.
This guy is another Justin Masterson swing guy for the team.
Regardless of whether or not he can relieve.. it is pretty pointless for everyone to repeat 10k times that Burnett is/was a poor sign. All large market teams are going to make gambles like that.
Once his contract is up, odds are he will mozy over to the NL, put up respectable numbers and the SAME people hammering Cashman for the sign will be hammering him again for letting him get away.
It has turned into like a viscous cycle here the last year or so.
Edit:
Not necessarily picking on you here btw.. Just the way many responses to topics have gone.
Interestingly, it was never his ability to pitch that was in question. If you JUST based it off of his 3 year prior performance with the Jays, in the AL East, especially against the Yanks and Sox, then the deal absolutely made sense purely based on his pitching ability. The MAIN reason many thought it was a risky sign back then was for injury concern, which has been the absolute ONLY thing that he has been good for thus far with the Yanks. if he fails to pitch 200 innings it’s not because of his health it’s because he was having short outings due to pitch count or just getting shelled.
The thing I can’t quite get my brain around is the fact that he pitched absolute *gems* in two of the highest-leverage starts he’s had for the Yankees: One in game-2 of the ’09 World Series — which positively *saved* the series for us; the other in the rubber game of a September-1st three game series last season against the Red Sox — the game that probably started the Sox’ implosion, if it comes to that. Why the heck can’t the guy do that all the time?
The thing I can’t quite get my brain around is the fact that he pitched absolute *gems* in two of the highest-leverage starts he’s had for the Yankees: One in game-2 of the ’09 World Series — which positively *saved* the series for us; the other in the rubber game of a September-1st three game series last season against the Red Sox — the game that probably started the Sox’ implosion, if it comes to that. Why the heck can’t the guy do that all the time?
right on the money! his durability was the only real concern…
Don’t forget about game 4 of the 2011 ALDS. An elimination game no less.
When he was with the Jays he pretty much owned Boston to begin with. His problems with Boston only began when he signed with NY.
It could be the large market pressure.. Large contract pressure.. Not pressing/trying hard enough.. No telling what it has been really, but i think he will greatly improve once he switches leagues. A Javy Vazquez x2 type as far as what his arsenal has.
so the new stat to judge a pitcher by is the Javy Vazquez effect.
Not just because vazquez was ineffective with the Yanks.. One could substitute any number of pitchers this has happened to.. Ted Lilly..
It is rare for the “Zito effect” to occur and he was losing velocity when his deal was signed.
yeah i gotta agree game 4 of the ALDS was a great game by him. 1 run on 4 hits in 5 2/3 innings pitched to go on an win 10-1. was a great game
yeah i gotta agree game 4 of the ALDS was a great game by him. 1 run on 4 hits in 5 2/3 innings pitched to go on an win 10-1. was a great game