WHY IT'S A NEW BEGINNING FOR AJ BURNETT

It started out as an enormous build-up and then ended in a flicker. This defines AJ Burnett from the moment he came to the Bronx all the way through to the day he was rumored to be involved in trade talks with the Pirates, until yesterday, when it finally happened. In 2009 when he signed with guys like CC Sabathia, Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira, AJ Burnett was the fourth horseman, a “great” pickup for the New York Yankees and with those upgrades in pitching and hitting, there was no doubt the Yankees could win a championship and just like that, we did.

AJ looked like AJ always looked in his career, just a good pitcher, but any problems were dismissed because the Yankees won it all. At that moment, it didn’t matter. Sure, we needed to tweak AJ, but hey, we’ll do that in 2010. Well, 2010 was a worse year for Burnett and then in 2011, Yankee fans, like we always do, became impatient and annoyed. No, AJ Burnett was not as advertised when he was signed, and with the Yankees not winning it all in 2010 and 2011, he was exposed as being mediocre.

When rumors started about trade possibilities for AJ Burnett, Twitter was on fire with the world having opinions; some downright nasty and others were hilarious. Then last weekend the Pirates were in “deep” talks with the Yankees and it was only a matter of hours before he’d be in Pittsburgh. Then hours became days and then finally, after everyone had written about the trade they wanted or didn’t want for AJ Burnett and the New York Yankees… AJ was traded to the Pirates, pending physical and MLB approval of course. Then… nothing...

I’m not sure if we’re all just exhausted that all this crap is over or happy or sad that it happened, but one thing we need to remember here is AJ Burnett was never a bad teammate and he was never a bad person…no… he’s human like me and you, he just didn’t seem to fit on the New York Yankees. Whether we were distracted by his “Come-from-behind-win” pies or him laughing with CC in the dugout before games, we quickly realized that the guy unfortunately carried a 34-31 record as a member of the New York Yankees for 3 years. That’s not good… it’s bad.

But just because you can’t get it together with a monster ball club like the New York Yankees, doesn’t mean AJ Burnett should be tortured the way he was, does it? No, the fact of the matter is, now that AJ Burnett is on his way to Pittsburgh, the best thing I can do as a die hard Yankee fan is thank him for his service and wish him well. Look, I am NOT trying to be your mom telling you how to ask. Of course, if you don't like him, you don't have to. I merely giving you my take... I know Yankee fans and I'm the same way... right now many of us are happy, but we'll all come back to this moment when Ivan Nova has a bad outing or Michael Pineda gets lit up and we'll ask ourselves something unusual… “I wonder if AJ would have done it better?" We all do it, don’t tell me you don’t.

All I’m saying is AJ’s human and it didn't work out in New York and now he deserves a clean slate and he’s getting it with the Pirates. No pressure now AJ just a new city, new fans and it's your chance to make it great for yourself. Those fans in Pittsburgh can fall in love with you if you did it right there. For AJ, this can only be good, plus, it's good for us as we embark on a new season without Burnett. Think of it this way, AJ’s free, so are we and now, a new marriage starts.

I wish AJ well and believe it or not, I hope he’s a huge success with the Pirates. I hope he makes the All-Star team and I hope he wins 18 for the Pirates. I hope we catch him on Sportscenter highlights one night shoving a pie in Andrew McCutchen’s face… because you can say a lot of rotten things about AJ Burnett, but one thing you can't do is call him a bad guy.

I don’t know… I’m rambling now, but that’s my take. Good luck pal… go get him.

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