WHY IT'S ABOUT THE BURNETT MONEY

The Yankees are close to unloading AJ Burnett if you read all the reports about it. Read HERE for a taste. The Yankees and the Pirates are literally discussing a trade that earlier this week, could have brought lefty Garrett Jones to the New York Yankees and the only thing the Pirates need to do is take more than $10 million of AJ Burnett’s $33 million remaining salary. Easy right? Not so fast. Now comes a tweet from Jon Heyman HERE that says Jones would NOT be included in the deal. But there isn't even a deal...yet.

When it comes down this winter's off-season moves... it comes down to money. The majority of teams are not paying big money for players and would rather just pay for low risk guys on the cheap. Let’s face it, just 3 years ago names like Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui may have been snatched up already. Now, instead of just dropping $6 million on guys, teams are sitting and waiting for prices to drop. Enter the Pirates. There is no question that the Pittsburgh Pirates could use AJ Burnett. Not only will he be good for the Pirates, he’ll probably be better there because of the different dynamic.

We, in turn could have 2 things happen; we can free up some money to pick up a lefty hitter like Damon, or, Cashman plays his famous shell game and snatches up Garrett Jones even though the Pirates don't want to give him up. Either way we win.

No doubt all the talk about Garrett Jones got me psyched. I'd love to have him on our team, he'd be a huge asset and the fact that he literally snuck under the radar really intrigued me. No one talked about Garrett Jones 2 weeks ago. Now everyone is, whether he'll come to New York, no one knows, but in the end, it all comes down to money and what the Yankees will be able to convince the Pirates to pay on Burnett’s remaining contract.

God, I almost feel bad hyping up this trade so much at Burnett’s expense. I mean Yankeeland really wants Burnett gone and they have no problem kicking him in the ass on the way out, but let’s face facts, this is business and in the end, Burnett didn’t provide the results the Yankees needed, just headaches. You can work hard all you want in a job and AJ did, but he didn’t provide results in the Bronx… bottom line, he shouldn’t be rewarded, he needs to be moved and if that means the Pirates and the Yankees can strike a deal, so be it…it’s business.

But I wonder, if the Yankees get the Pirates to pick up $12 million of Burnett’s remaining salary, who will they pursue? Raul Ibanez? Hideki Matsui? Johnny Damon? It remains to be seen, this rumors was hot and heavy all day... but then it just died out.

What will happen? The suspense is killing me... I can't wait to see how this ends up. Bottom line, we are days away from Spring Training. Who's ready!

By the way, check out the latest post from the Bronx Goblin HERE.

Please comment, we have DISQUS, it's easier than ever. Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and look for the hashtag #BYB. Also, join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.