The Pirates and A.J. Burnett

Word has been spreading like wild fire that the Pirates have been a front runner for acquiring Yankees pitcher A.J. Burnett. Truth be told the Yankees have been trying to get rid of the guy and nobody seems to want to take him.

Burnett has not been very good over the past couple of years and couple that with the fact he is due $33M over the next two years and you can see how the Yankees might want to get up under this contract. Enter the Pirates.

The Pirates have been looking for another guy for in the rotation when they went after Edwin Jackson and Roy Oswalt but were unable to get either of those players to come to Pittsburgh because, well, who wants to come here for a team that isn’t going to contend. Truth be told Burnett might want to come to Pittsburgh. Granted, we don’t know that but the Pirates are not one of the 10 teams that are on his no trade clause so I guess I can say he wouldn’t mind coming to Pittsburgh.

Over the past couple of days we have heard different scenerio’s where Burnett would be on the Pirates and it really ramped up last night. Word came out that the Yankees wanted a straight up swap with the Pirates sending Garrett Jones to the Yankees for Burnett and also having the Yanks eat about $23M of the salary. The Pirates did not take that and probably with good cause.

Look, Jones isn’t going to be a piece to the future and his play has dipped a little the past couple of years but he is one of the only viable options left in terms of a power source and one of the only guys that really can be relied on to play first base. Sure the Pirates have Casey McGehee, Jake Fox and Nick Evans but I am not really sure how much we can expect from those guys. At least with Jones we know what we have and someone can be there to hit pretty well against right handed pitching. If Jones is gone then the Pirates will most likely have to rely on McGehee and then you don’t really have another option for third base if Pedro Alvarez isn’t able to turn it around.

I still think getting an arm on the mound is important at the starting rotation is paper thin. Right now the Pirates have Charlie Morton, James McDonald, Erik Bedard, Jeff Karstens, Kevin Correia and Brad Lincoln. Burnett immediately shifts Correia and Lincoln out of the rotation and gives them more of a buffer if Morton isn’t ready to start the year or if Bedard breaks down like he has in past years.

Right now it is looking like the Yankees want an “OK prospect” and for the Pirates to pick up a 50/50 split on the money.

word is, #pirates willing to pay $10M of aj's $33M. #yankees have been pushing for something closer to a 50-50 split
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) February 10, 2012

#yanks also seek ok prospect back, which pirates hadnt agreed to. still, despite the differences, decent chance to happen
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) February 10, 2012

I have no idea what an “OK prospect” is but I can’t imagine it is much. For what it is worth I think this deal gets done sometime soon and I am good with that. It makes the rotation better and gives a little more buffer.

I know some people are talking about this like this is some savior to the staff but it shouldn’t be looked at like that. This is a guy who has struggled a little the past couple of years but has really been hurt by some unlucky play which included a 17% HR/FB ratio which is extremely high. Here is what Burnett’s stats look like through his career:

Year	Age	Tm	W	L	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA+	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
1995	18	NYM-min	2	3	4.28	9	8	1	1	0	33.2	27	16	16	2	23	26		1.485	7.2	0.5	6.1	7.0	1.13	MET • GULF
1996	19	NYM-min	4	0	3.88	12	12	0	0	0	58.0	31	26	25	0	54	68		1.466	4.8	0.0	8.4	10.6	1.26	KPT • APPY
1997	20	NYM-min	3	2	4.39	12	11	0	0	0	55.1	36	34	27	3	43	63		1.428	5.9	0.5	7.0	10.2	1.47	PFD,MET • NYPL,GULF
1998	21	FLA-min	10	4	1.97	20	20	0	0	0	119.0	74	27	26	3	45	186		1.000	5.6	0.2	3.4	14.1	4.13	KNC • MIDW
1999	22	FLA-min	6	12	5.52	26	23	1	0	0	120.2	132	91	74	15	71	121		1.682	9.8	1.1	5.3	9.0	1.70	PRT • EL
1999	22	FLA	4	2	3.48	7	7	0	0	0	41.1	37	23	16	3	25	33	126	1.500	8.1	0.7	5.4	7.2	1.32
2000	23	FLA-min	0	0	2.19	3	3	0	0	0	12.1	4	3	3	0	9	12		1.054	2.9	0.0	6.6	8.8	1.33	BRE,CGY • FLOR,PCL
2000	23	FLA	3	7	4.79	13	13	0	0	0	82.2	80	46	44	8	44	57	92	1.500	8.7	0.9	4.8	6.2	1.30
2001	24	FLA-min	0	0	1.93	2	2	0	0	0	9.1	4	2	2	0	4	10		0.857	3.9	0.0	3.9	9.6	2.50	BRE • FLOR
2001	24	FLA	11	12	4.05	27	27	0	2	1	173.1	145	82	78	20	83	128	105	1.315	7.5	1.0	4.3	6.6	1.54
2002	25	FLA	12	9	3.30	31	29	0	7	5	204.1	153	84	75	12	90	203	122	1.189	6.7	0.5	4.0	8.9	2.26
2003	26	FLA	0	2	4.70	4	4	0	0	0	23.0	18	13	12	2	18	21	91	1.565	7.0	0.8	7.0	8.2	1.17
2004	27	FLA-min	0	0	4.91	2	2	0	0	0	7.1	9	5	4	1	4	10		1.773	11.0	1.2	4.9	12.3	2.50	JUP,ABQ • FLOR,PCL
2004	27	FLA	7	6	3.68	20	19	0	1	0	120.0	102	50	49	9	38	113	112	1.167	7.7	0.7	2.9	8.5	2.97
2005	28	FLA	12	12	3.44	32	32	0	4	2	209.0	184	97	80	12	79	198	116	1.258	7.9	0.5	3.4	8.5	2.51
2006	29	TOR-min	2	0	1.89	4	4	0	0	0	19.0	11	5	4	1	6	22		0.895	5.2	0.5	2.8	10.4	3.67	DUN,MAN,SYR • FLOR,EL,IL
2006	29	TOR	10	8	3.98	21	21	0	2	1	135.2	138	67	60	14	39	118	115	1.305	9.2	0.9	2.6	7.8	3.03
2007	30	TOR-min	0	0	1.80	1	1	0	0	0	5.0	3	1	1	0	1	7		0.800	5.4	0.0	1.8	12.6	7.00	SYR • IL
2007	30	TOR	10	8	3.75	25	25	0	2	0	165.2	131	74	69	23	66	176	119	1.189	7.1	1.2	3.6	9.6	2.67
2008	31	TOR	18	10	4.07	35	34	1	1	0	221.1	211	109	100	19	86	231	104	1.342	8.6	0.8	3.5	9.4	2.69
2009	32	NYY	13	9	4.04	33	33	0	1	0	207.0	193	99	93	25	97	195	114	1.401	8.4	1.1	4.2	8.5	2.01
2010	33	NYY	10	15	5.26	33	33	0	1	0	186.2	204	118	109	25	78	145	82	1.511	9.8	1.2	3.8	7.0	1.86
2011	34	NYY	11	11	5.15	33	32	0	0	0	190.1	190	115	109	31	83	173	86	1.434	9.0	1.5	3.9	8.2	2.08
13 Seasons			121	111	4.10	314	309	1	21	9	1960.1	1786	977	894	203	826	1791	105	1.332	8.2	0.9	3.8	8.2	2.17
162 Game Avg.			13	12	4.10	34	34	0	2	1	214	195	107	98	22	90	195	105	1.332	8.2	0.9	3.8	8.2	2.17
FLA (7 yrs)			49	50	3.73	134	131	0	14	8	853.2	719	395	354	66	377	753	111	1.284	7.6	0.7	4.0	7.9	2.00
NYY (3 yrs)			34	35	4.79	99	98	0	2	0	584.0	587	332	311	81	258	513	93	1.447	9.0	1.2	4.0	7.9	1.99
TOR (3 yrs)			38	26	3.94	81	80	1	5	1	522.2	480	250	229	56	191	525	112	1.284	8.3	1.0	3.3	9.0	2.75
NL (7 yrs)			49	50	3.73	134	131	0	14	8	853.2	719	395	354	66	377	753	111	1.284	7.6	0.7	4.0	7.9	2.00
AL (6 yrs)			72	61	4.39	180	178	1	7	1	1106.2	1067	582	540	137	449	1038	101	1.370	8.7	1.1	3.7	8.4	2.31

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/10/2012.

Last season he carried a 5.15 ERA last season but his xFIP was under 4.00 at 3.86 and a 4.49 xFIP in 2010 when he had an ERA of 5.26.

Look this does not fix anything and at best this is a guy who can hold the fort most nights and give you a ton of innings. I would much rather see Burnett on the mound than Correia so there is that. I will have more on this as it happens but hopefully we can hear something soon.

UPDATE: 12:00 p.m. 2-11-12

Sources: #Pirates 1 of 4 teams on Burnett; 1 team, tho, is on his no-trade list. #Yankees view Pirates as partner making "most sense." #MLB

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) February 11, 2012

Ken Rosenthal brings this little nugget today. So basically there are three teams (with the other being on his no trade list) that are still in on Burnett. Most likely the Pirates are the best partner because they can eat some money. I think this gets done but it might be a while before everything floods out.

To be honest the Yankees really have no leverage. They have to get rid of Burnett and with so few buyers they are really going to have to play on the terms of the team that eventually gets Burnett.