(Photo: Getty)AJ Burnett is overpaid and did exactly what I said he'd do last night...pitch, and the Yankees needed to give him run support to win it. Well, we won it. Why in the world are we blaming AJ Burnett for this... win? I'm confused. This is exactly how it was going to happen. This is exactly the way it ALWAYS happens. Why are we surprised? AJ is just another pitcher, not a superstar, bottom line.
The Yankees paid him an enormous amount of money in 2009 based on his contract negotiations with the New York Yankees. As far as I can tell, his agent is a genius because AJ got big money for being a mediocre pitcher, let's face facts. I never said AJ Burnett was a pitching phenom and as far as I can tell, the Yankees didn't lose last night. So, to me, it's a win and if Girardi wants to move him down in the rotation for the next outing, that's fine with me, but AJ Burnett is not trash either, seriously. All he did last night was make the Yankee fan base nervous. Luckily for us, we hit and scored and won, but there's no denying, AJ Burnett didn't pitch good, lasting 4.1 innings, giving up 13 hits and 7 runs, striking out 3 and allowing 1 home run.
It also helped that Gavin Floyd gave up 10 runs on 9 hits in 2 1/3 innings. For the record, Gavin and AJ are inter-changable, similar records, similar years. Is all of Chicago railing on Floyd today? Look, last night the Yankees came out slugging and that's what you want in a winning streak, constant hitting and scoring. Yes, the pitching needs to be great too, but like I stated in WHY CRUCIFYING BURNETT NEEDS TO STOP, if you know AJ's career, than you know what you're getting with AJ, he's far from perfect and not an "ace".
(Photo: AP)Derek Jeter had 5 hits last night. The last time he did that was his 3000 day. Granderson had a 2 run triple and Curtis drove in 5 runs last night. This guy is having an MVP year.
Eric Chavez and Robinson Cano both had 3 hits and 4 RBIs and Mark Teixeira drove in 3 runs last night as well. Man oh Man, when the offense is clicking there is nothing the Yankees can't do.
Nick Swisher singled last night, Jorge Posada doubled. Even Brett Gardner started off the game with a bunt single. he also scored 4 times last night.
(Photo: Reuters)Everyone did their part, except AJ Burnett, and the only thing he did was make everyone panic. I'm still not sold on getting rid of AJ Burnett, but the base feels he's got to go. The real test will be the Boston series. If he shits the bed during that series, there is no question, the Yankee brass will think about making moves.
Final Score: Yankees 18 - White Sox 7.
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If the Yankees would not have scored all those runs AJ would most likely would have lost. He had a 12 run lead, he should have coasted to a win. A few times he has pitched ok but didn't get run support but usually he has been a train wreck. I'd rather have Nova out there than AJ.
ReplyDeletePeople were posting and apparently the NY Post reported that AJ, Soriano, and Jorge were put on Waivers. I have heard nothing else about this. Jorge does not deserve to be treated that way. They could dump AJ but who would want him?
The Yankees definitely have to beat the Red Sox or they will end up being the wild card!
Sooo your big defense this morning is that all the hype and holler in your previous article really amounted to no more than an argument that all the Yankees starter for the evening needed to do was pitch? Not pitch well, or even respectably, but just... pitch? And that you were proven right because he indeed did take the mound and throw the ball to the catcher while opposing hitters were in the box and there was an umpire paying attention and indicating balls and strikes on pitches that weren't hit really hard to places in fair territory?
ReplyDeletePeople don't crucify AJ because he's "not a superstar", they crucify him because without his bloated contract he'd be part of this fight for the number 5 spot (see: last year's playoff shunning, then unshunning that resulted in Yanks playoff dismissal. And no, that game was not all his fault, he actually pitched ok for a bit, Girardi left him in too long, Rangers looked like the better team in the series anyway, but it did nothing to improve upon this "not a superstar's" status as "not that useful".). And they crucify him because in a do-or-die playoff situation tomorrow, it is not completely insane to say that there are 5 starters on the squad right now you'd rather roll the dice with. I'm not saying if push came to shove that I definitely would use all 5, but I might. And even for being "not a superstar", for just being what he is, this should be so ridiculous as to dismiss without consideration, but it's not.
If you think we should focus more of our frustration on Cashman for saddling the team with 5 years of this joker card, well on that I could agree. I mean did he just have such a good time with the great but uncontrollable stuff of Kyle Farnsworth here and there for an inning out of the bullpen that he said hey why not up the fun with 5+ innings every 5 days? I'd also like to venture that fans, myself included here, might tend to have special contempt for those athletes who seem gutless, who clearly have physical gifts, but who seem mentally weak. And what can you say about a pitcher with A+ stuff in a bullpen session who can't consistently deliver that stuff under game conditions except that he is gutless, that he melts under the lights? But in any case, I don't believe that the idea that we shouldn't be so frustrated with AJ because we knew he was mediocre when they signed him is going to gain much traction.
Anonymous, First off, I don't need to defend myself, it's my opinion. Secondly, with all the ranting in your comment, I actually think you and I agree. Thanks for writing though.
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